Singapore stocks open higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares began trading on Wednesday morning in slightly positive territory, even as US equities retraced from their recent highs overnight amid a soft retail sales report and as a vaccine-led rally faded.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) inched up 2.21 points or 0.1 per cent to 2,780.76 as at 9.02am.

Gainers outpaced losers 72 to 46, after 136.1 million securities worth S$78.8 million changed hands.

Among index securities, the most active counter by volume was Genting Singapore, which gained S$0.01 or 1.2 per cent to S$0.83, with 4.6 million shares traded. Thai Beverage was flat at 70.5 Singapore cents with about three million shares changing hands.

The trio of local lenders were up in early trade. DBS gained S$0.04 or 0.2 per cent to S$24.69, UOB added S$0.19 or 0.9 per cent to S$22.23, while OCBC edged up S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to S$9.80.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank may be amalgamated into DBS's India business, under a proposed scheme by the Reserve Bank of India, DBS said in a bourse filing on Tuesday night. If approved, DBS will inject 2,500 crore rupees (S$463 million) into DBS Bank India Ltd to support the amalgamation.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Separately, DBS on Tuesday also announced a slew of new work practices as Singapore lenders make flexi-work a permanent post-Covid-19 feature. Among other things, Singapore's largest lender will give its 29,000-strong workforce the option to work remotely up to 40 per cent of the time.

Other active counters include CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT), which fell S$0.06 or 4.7 per cent to S$1.22. CRCT's preferential offering to unitholders has been priced at S$1.17, the bottom end of the indicative range, its manager said in a bourse filing on Wednesday. Meanwhile, its private placement was upsized to raise gross proceeds of about S$245.4 million.

National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) and ground handler SATS continued their upward trajectory on Wednesday, after vaccine hopes spurred a rally among travel and tourism stocks the day before.

SIA was up S$0.03 or 0.7 per cent to S$4.09, while SATS put on S$0.03 or 0.7 per cent to S$4.13.

Over in the US, Wall Street stocks had a bumpy ride on Tuesday, pulling back from new records to close lower as a spike in Covid-19 infections in the country undermined tentative optimism about the pace of economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6 per cent to end at 29,783.35, after finishing at an all-time high at the start of the week. The S&P 500, which also closed at a record on Monday, lost 0.5 per cent to 3,609.53, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.2 per cent to 11,899.34.

Said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi: "A sense of caution has returned to equity markets as the fear of mobility restrictions is rising with new Covid-19 infections accelerating, and investors are keen to safeguard year-end profits."

European shares slipped from eight-month highs on Tuesday, as lockdowns weighed on investor sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.2 per cent lower. The index had jumped more than 1 per cent to close on Monday at its highest level since late-February, following positive data about drugmaker Moderna's potential Covid-19 vaccine.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday on profit-taking. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.5 per cent or 132.48 points at 25,882.14 in early trade, while the broader Topix index declined 0.5 per cent or 8.55 points to 1,726.11.