Singapore shares open higher on Wall Street gains, oil drop

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Singapore shares opened higher on Wednesday after Wall Street rebounded overnight as crude oil prices pulled back to below $140 a barrel and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank might extend its lending efforts to investment banks. At 0105 GMT, the benchmark Straits Times Index was up 29.68 points or 1 percent 2,916.30. Gainers led decliners 133 to 26 with 1,241 stocks unchanged. There were 38.4 million shares traded valued at S$ 57.8 million. Any gains though may be short-lived with investors looking at a low GDP number when the government releases the second-quarter estimates on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Thomson IFR expect economic growth to have slowed to as much as 2 percent in the past quarter, from a 6.7 percent clip in the first three months. 'We expect a... [read full story]