SINGAPORE - Singapore shares opened stronger on Wednesday (Aug 14) at the tail end of the corporate earnings season, following a positive lead from Wall Street amid China tariff delays.
The Straits Times Index rose 0.81 per cent or 25.5 points to 3,172.23 as at 9.02am.
Gainers outpaced losers 96 to 38, after 48.2 million securities worth $93.6 million changed hands.
Among the most heavily traded by volume was CapitaLand Commercial Trust, which rose 1 per cent or two cents to $2.08 with some 3 million shares changing hands. AEM Holdings grew 4.6 per cent or five cents to $1.14 with 2.7 million shares traded, while Ascendas Reit moved up 0.3 per cent or one cent to $3.09 with 1.5 million shares traded.
All three banking stocks entered the morning session in positive territory. DBS was up 1 per cent or 24 cents to $25.05, UOB also gained 1 per cent or 25 cents to $26.00, and OCBC increased 1.6 per cent or 18 cents to $11.18.
Other active index securities included Hongkong Land which headed up 2.8 per cent or 15 US cents to US$5.55 as at 9.01am, and Singtel which rose 0.6 per cent or two cents to $3.20.
A slew of Singapore-listed companies released their financial results on Wednesday morning and Tuesday night.
They included ST Engineering, which dipped 0.2 per cent or one cent to $4.26 as at 9.03am. It posted an 18 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit to $138.2 million, on the back of higher earnings from its marine sector.
Valuetronics Holdings gained 2.5 per cent or 1.5 cents to $0.62 as at 9.04am. The mainboard-listed electronics manufacturer on Wednesday morning said that its first-quarter earnings were hit by softer demand amid US-China trade tensions.
Meanwhile, BreadTalk Group lost 1.5 per cent or one cent to $0.68 as at 9.03am. This comes after the food and beverage operator announced that its chief executive officer (CEO) will leave the company with effect from Dec 31, while its executive chairman will take over the CEO's roles and responsibilities.
In the US, stocks closed higher on Tuesday after an announced delay of planned tariffs on some Chinese imports brought buyers back to the equities market in a broad-based rally.
Tech stocks, headed up by Apple Inc, led all three major US indexes into the black following the announcement, which eased fears over the US-China trade war and heightened risks of a US recession.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the United States would hold off on imposing additional 10 per cent tariffs on key Chinese goods, including laptops and cellphones, tariffs that were originally set to go into effect next month.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks also opened higher on Wednesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.98 per cent to 20,655.65 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.90 per cent at 1,499.93.
