SINGAPORE - Singapore shares on Friday morning (June 21) held onto the week's strong gains when trading opened on Friday, following a rally in the US market overnight. The Straits Times Index edged up 0.72 points or 0.02 per cent to 3,315.23 as at 9.04am.
About 53.9 million shares worth $83.7 million changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of $1.55 per share.
Gainers outnumbered losers 106 to 38.
The most actively traded security was Ascott Reit, which traded up $0.01 or 0.78 per cent at $1.30 with 5.8 million units changing hands. Other actives included Mapletree Logistics Trust and Keppel Infrastructure Trust.
Among financials, DBS Group Holdings declined $0.09 or 0.35 per cent to $25.73; UOB gained $0.08 or 0.31 per cent to $26.30 while OCBC was up $0.03 or 0.27 per cent to $11.27.
Among other index stocks, Singtel was trading down $0.01 or 0.29 per cent at $3.44 with about 1.3 million shares changing hands. Meanwhile, Ascendas Reit units gained one Singapore cent or 0.33 per cent at $3.01.
US investors were boosted by a rally in oil-linked shares and continued positive sentiment over the Federal Reserve's dovish tilt.
The S&P 500 ended Thursday up 1 per cent at 2,954.18, about eight points over the record set in April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9 per cent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.8 per cent.
Over in Europe, stocks surged to six-week highs on Thursday amid dovish signals from the Bank of England and Fed, and optimism around the resumption US-China trade talks.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index finished 0.4 per cent higher, with most country indices in the black as investors globally priced in the prospect of an easing of US interest rates next month and more to follow.
In other Asian markets, Tokyo slid in the morning due to negative impact from a firmer yen against the US dollar, overriding positive sentiment from rallies on Wall Street.
