SINGAPORE - Singapore stocks crept up on Thursday (Aug 29), with the Straits Times Index advancing 0.04 per cent or 1.1 points to 3,057.57 as at 9.03am amid Brexit and recession worries, despite a Wall Street rebound on higher oil prices.

On the Singapore bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 72 to 39 after 22.9 million securities worth $50.6 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Singtel was down 0.3 per cent or $0.01 to $3.14 with 2.8 million shares traded. Netlink NBN Trust held firm to $0.88 with 1.9 million shares traded. Rex International Holding advanced 2.7 per cent or $0.002 to $0.077 with 1.4 million shares traded.

Active index stocks included Singapore Exchange, down 0.1 per cent or $0.01 to $8.17; Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust, 0.7 per cent or $0.02 weaker at $3.07.

Financial stocks DBS Group Holdings, was up 0.04 per cent or $0.01 to $24.03; OCBC Bank edged up 0.1 per cent or $0.01 to $10.52; and United Overseas Bank was down 0.04 per cent or $0.01 to $24.40.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened flat on Thursday, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index gaining 0.04 per cent or 8.12 points to 20,487.54 in the first few minutes of trade. The broader Topix index was up 0.06 per cent or 0.86 points at 1,491.21.

In Europe, shares inched lower on Wednesday amid mounting worries of a looming global recession, as well as a drop in the pound over disorderly Brexit fears which pushed British stocks higher.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.2 per cent lower, trimming deep losses from the morning, helped by London's exporter-heavy FTSE 100 as sterling tumbled after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans to suspend parliament. Dublin stocks sensitive to Brexit news fell 1.3 per cent, while Milan stocks ended flat, reversing earlier losses.

On Wall Street, US stocks recovered on Wednesday as enegry shares rose on higher oil prices even as the bond market flashed a recession warning. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up one per cent at 26,035.21, while the broader S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent to 2,887.97 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.4 per cent to 7,856.88.