Singapore shares open lower on Tuesday

SINGAPORE share prices opened lower on Tuesday with the Straits Times Index down 4.14 points or 0.13 per cent to 3,210.41 at 9.09 am.

Some 68.9 million shares worth S$55.5 million changed hands. Losers outnumbered gainers 70 to 55.

The three local banks dominated the top five value-traded counters. OCBC Bank was down one cent to S$10.43, DBS fell six cents to S$20.78, and United Overseas Bank (UOB) was down 10 cents to S$23.25.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Tuesday said that it has imposed financial penalties of S$900,000 on UOB for breaches of anti-money laundering requirements and control lapses under MAS Notice 626 - Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism.

In Tokyo, shares opened nearly unchanged on Tuesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index opened marginally down 0.04 per cent, or 7.16 points, at 19,675.41, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares edged down 0.03 per cent, to 0.46 points, at 1,569.75.