SINGAPORE: Singapore shares rose on Friday morning, following the trend in the US and European markets.
The Business Times reported that the Straits Times Index (STI) was up 13.59 points or 0.4% to 3,279.54 by 9:01 am.
The market saw more gainers than losers with 84 stocks in the green against 25 in the red, with a trading volume of 31.1 million securities valued at S$42.7 million changing hands.
The most active counter by volume was Aspen, which climbed 8% or S$0.004 to S$0.054, with 3.9 million securities traded. Other actively traded counters included Yangzijiang Financial Holding, up 1.6% or S$0.005 to S$0.325, with 3.4 million shares exchanged, and Seatrium, rising 2.2% or S$0.04 to S$1.90, with 1.9 million securities traded.
Banking stocks showed mixed performance in early trading. DBS slipped 0.1% or S$0.05 to S$35.23, while OCBC gained 1.1% or S$0.15 to S$14.06, driven by a 5% year-on-year increase in its first-quarter net profit to S$1.98 billion. UOB edged up 0.3% or S$0.10 to S$30.45.
Wall Street saw a boost on Thursday, buoyed by soft US jobs data that raised hopes for interest rate cuts later in the year. The Nasdaq Composite Index nudged up 0.3% to 16,346.26, the S&P 500 advanced 0.5% to 5,214.08, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9% to 39,387.76.
In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 hit a record high on Thursday, driven by strength in industrial stocks, closing at 516.77, up 0.2%. /TISG
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