Singapore shares jump at Wednesday’s open; STI up 1%

SINGAPORE equities maintained their strong uptrend on Wednesday (Jul 3) morning after global equities ended mixed overnight.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 33.8 points or 1 per cent to 3,401.7. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 66 to 22 after 36.9 million securities worth S$76.5 million changed hands.

Thai Beverage was the most actively traded counter of the morning in terms of volume, bucking the overall trend to dip S$0.015 or 3.4 per cent to S$0.425 with 8.3 million shares traded.

Shares of GS Holdings rose S$0.007 or 33.3 per cent to S$0.028 amid brisk trading activity, and units of CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added S$0.01 or 0.5 per cent to S$1.98.

The trio of local banks continued to climb after hitting fresh records on Tuesday. DBS leapt S$0.59 or 1.6 per cent to S$37.69, and OCBC rose S$0.17 or 1.2 per cent to S$14.97. UOB gained S$0.50 or 1.6 per cent to S$32.15.

Over on Wall Street, major US indices were lifted on upbeat comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell that boosted the odds for interest rate cuts.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to a new high of 5,509.01. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.8 per cent to 18,028.76, also a record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4 per cent to 39,331.85.

Shares in Europe fell to two-week lows on Tuesday as data pointed to elevated services inflation in the eurozone.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.4 per cent down at 510.91, off near two-month lows hit earlier in the session.