Singapore shares open slightly lower on Tuesday

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Tuesday, edging down 0.21 per cent or 5.98 points to 2,832.54.

At 9.05 am, some 74.2 million stocks worth S$104.5 million had changed hands, while losers slightly outnumbered gainers at 78 to 70.

Actively traded stocks straight out the gate included SingTel, DBS, OCBC Bank and UOB.

DBS, which released its results on Tuesday morning before the market opened, reported a net profit for the first quarter of 2016 of S$1.20 billion, down 5 per cent from a year ago.

Stripping out one-time items of about S$136 million related to the gain from disposal of a property investment a year ago, the earnings were 6 per cent higher, which was a record. Total income also reached a new milestone, rising 5 per cent to S$2.87 billion.

At 9.10 am, DBS was up 23 cents to S$15.51.