Singapore shares open higher on Monday; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE equities began Monday (Feb 17) in positive territory, following mixed performance in the US and Europe last Friday.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 12.16 points or 0.3 per cent to 3,889.66.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 72 to 38 after 35.6 million securities worth S$33.4 million changed hands.

Thai Beverage was the most actively traded counter in terms of volume. The counter advanced 2 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.51 after 7.3 million shares were moved.

Other actively traded counters included Genting Singapore, which traded 1.3 per cent or S$0.01 higher at S$0.77. Mainboard-listed property developer OKH Global was unchanged at S$0.031.

Local banking stocks were up at the open. DBS rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.13 to S$44.97, UOB climbed 0.6 per cent or S$0.21 to S$38.27, and OCBC was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 at S$17.41.

Wall Street stocks finished mixed last Friday, following lacklustre US retail sales data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.4 per cent to 44,546.08, while the broad-based S&P 500 index ended nearly flat at 6,114.63. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.4 per cent to 20,026.77.

In Europe, shares closed lower on Friday after four successive sessions of gains. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index settled 0.2 per cent lower at 552.41.

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