Singapore stocks advance at Tuesday's open; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares opened stronger on Tuesday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index gaining 13.52 points or 0.5 per cent to 2,703.13 as at 9.01am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 107 to 28, after about 191.5 million securities worth S$100.2 million changed hands.

Among the index stocks, the most heavily traded by volume was Genting Singapore, which was flat at S$0.78 with 3.5 million shares traded.

CapitaLand fell S$0.11 or 3.6 per cent to S$2.95 on an ex-dividend basis, with some 1.1 million shares traded. In a profit guidance on Monday, the property group said it expects its operating profit after tax and minority interests to decline by 25 per cent to 35 per cent for the first half this year.

Meanwhile, banking stocks were up in the early session of trading. DBS gained S$0.22 or 1 per cent to S$22.19, UOB added S$0.29 or 1.4 per cent to S$21.46, and OCBC Bank rose S$0.11 or 1.2 per cent to S$9.44.

Other active stocks included Medtecs International which gained 5.5 Singapore cents or 8.5 per cent to 70.5 cents, while CSE Global edged up two Singapore cents or 4.5 per cent to 46.5 cents. UG Healthcare was also up, rising S$0.09 or 6 per cent to S$1.59.

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Over in the US, Wall Street stocks jumped on Monday after the holiday weekend and as bullish sentiment in China rippled across global markets. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.8 per cent at 26,287.03. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.6 per cent to finish at 3,179.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq rose 2.2 per cent to end at 10,433.65, in its third straight record close.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday morning after rallying for three consecutive days and as investors cashed in on recent gains.