Singapore shares open almost flat on Monday; STI decreased slightly by 0.04%

SINGAPORE’s share prices started on Monday (October 21) at almost unchanged levels despite weekend increases on foreign markets.

At 9:02 a.m., the Straits Times Index (STI) was down marginally by 0.04 percent, or 1.59 points, at 3,638.6. In the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 66 to 44 after 40.1 million securities worth S$43.3 million changed hands.

Offshore and maritime specialist Headquarters was the most actively traded counter in terms of volume. Its price rose 3 percent, or S$0.06, to S$2.04, and 6 million securities changed hands.

Other actively listed counters included Chinese company agritech Zixin and investment holding company CapAllianzwhich were traded flat at S$0.027 and S$0.001 respectively.

Prices of bank shares were mixed at the opening. DBS fell 0.4 percent or S$0.16 to S$39.54, while OCBC increased by 0.3 per cent or S$0.05 to S$15.45 and UOB traded flat at S$32.60.

Wall Street stocks ended higher Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 climbed to new all-time highs on strong earnings results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 percent to 43,275.91, while the broad S&P 500 index closed up 0.4 percent at 5,864.67 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended 0.6 percent higher at the level of 18,489.55.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 index finished 0.2% higher at 524.99 as tech stocks rebounded strongly after a difficult week, while a European Central Bank rate cut and corporate earnings helped the index post a second straight week increases.