Singapore shares open lower on Tuesday; STI down 1.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Tuesday after US markets finished mixed overnight.

The Straits Times Index lost 29.11 points or 1.1 per cent to 2,582.20 as at 9.04am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 84 to 58, after 79.2 million securities worth S$78 million changed hands.

A trio of healthcare stocks were among the most traded counters by volume in the morning. Clearbridge rose 1.5 Singapore cents or 7.7 per cent to 21 cents on 9.3 million shares traded, Biolidics gained 1.5 Singapore cents or 3.3 per cent to 47 cents after 4.7 million shares were traded, and Healthway Medical advanced 0.1 Singapore cent or 3.1 per cent to 3.3 cents after 4.6 million shares changed hands.

Meanwhile, SGX was one of the most traded counters by value, edging down S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to S$9.91.

All three local banks lost ground in early trade, as DBS dived S$0.63 or 3.2 per cent to S$19.37, OCBC lost S$0.04 or 0.5 per cent to S$8.90, while UOB decreased S$0.20 or 1 per cent to S$19.87.

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Wall Street stocks finished mixed on Monday as markets weigh hopes about reopening the economy against worries over coronavirus cases and the damage already inflicted by the shutdowns.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.5 per cent at 24,221.99.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.8 per cent to 9,192.34, while the broad-based S&P 500 ended essentially flat at 2,930.19.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan stocks opened higher on Tuesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.2 per cent or 34.87 points to 20,425.53 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.1 per cent or 0.95 point at 1,481.57.