Singapore shares open higher on Monday; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE stocks began Monday (Oct 7) trading in positive territory, mirroring weekend gains in overseas markets.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.6 per cent or 20.59 points to 3,609.72. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers at 83 to 31 after 39.5 million securities worth S$34 million changed hands.

Offshore oil-and-gas contractor Dyna-Mac was the most actively traded counter by volume. It was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.005 at S$0.635 with 6.9 million securities switching hands.

Other actively traded counters included real estate investment trust ESR-Logos Reit, which traded flat at S$0.29, and chemical company Jiutian Chemical Group, which increased 6.3 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.034.

Banking stocks were trading up at open. DBS rose 1.4 per cent or S$0.53 to S$38.57, while OCBC increased 0.8 per cent or S$0.12 to S$15.01 and UOB climbed 0.4 per cent or S$0.12 to S$31.98.

Wall Street shares ended higher on Friday tracking strong job data, as the world’s biggest economy added 254,000 jobs last month, and the ending of a US port strike as union leaders and shippers reached a tentative agreement.

The S&P 500 finished higher at 5,751.07, up 0.9 per cent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.8 per cent to 42,352.75 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.2 per cent at 18,137.85.

European equities closed higher on Friday as a stronger-than-anticipated US jobs report quelled growth fears about the US economy. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.4 per cent higher at 518.56.