SINGAPORE shares edged higher at the opening bell on Tuesday following gains in US markets overnight on optimism about steps to reopen the US economy.

The Straits Times Index advanced 0.76 point or 0.03 per cent to 2,550.16 as at 9.07am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 107 to 39, after 73.6 million securities worth S$110.7 million changed hands.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the most traded counter by volume in the morning, declining 1.5 Singapore cents or 1.5 per cent to 98.5 cents after 5.9 million shares were traded.

Other actives included Biolidics, which was up two Singapore cents or 4.7 per cent to 44.5 cents on 4.6 million shares traded, and Singtel, which declined S$0.02 or 0.7 per cent to S$2.75 after 4.6 million shares changed hands.

It was a mixed bag among banking stocks. DBS rose S$0.09 or 0.5 per cent to S$19.09, OCBC increased S$0.06 or 0.7 per cent to S$8.82, but UOB retreated S$0.10 or 0.5 per cent to S$19.68.

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Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher on Monday on optimism about steps to reopen the economy in the first session of a heavy week of earnings and economic news.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.5 per cent to end the day at 24,133.78, the broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.5 per cent to 2,878.48 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.1 per cent to finish at 8,730.16.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.2 per cent or 41.00 points at 19,742.22 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.3 per cent or 4.92 points to 1,442.33.