Singapore shares edge up at Tuesday's open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares inched higher on Tuesday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gaining 4.15 points or 0.2 per cent to 2,515.36 as at 9.01am.

This comes even as private-sector economists now expect Singapore's gross domestic product to contract 6 per cent this year, worsening slightly from earlier expectations of a 5.8 per cent fall, according to the latest quarterly Monetary Authority of Singapore survey of professional forecasters, which was released on Monday.

On the Singapore bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 79 to 34, after 30.1 million securities worth S$21.9 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was watch-listed Oceanus Group, which shed 0.1 Singapore cent or 12.5 per cent to 0.7 cent, with some 6.8 million shares traded. Oceanus on Monday announced that it has invested an undisclosed sum in deep-tech company Universal Aquaculture to breed prawns.

Separately, Kitchen Culture gained 0.4 Singapore cent or 2.7 per cent to 15.1 cents, with 1.8 million shares traded.

The trio of local lenders were mixed in early trade. DBS gained S$0.06 or 0.3 per cent to S$20.78, OCBC added S$0.02 or 0.2 per cent to S$8.65, while UOB slipped S$0.06 or 0.3 per cent to S$19.47.

Asian banks have largely been conserving capital by trimming dividends or offering scrip options amid the pandemic, and there are opportunities for them to raise debt from yield-starved investors to further shore up capital, The Business Times reported on Tuesday, citing analysts.

Meanwhile, Sembcorp Marine (SMM) lost 0.1 Singapore cent or 0.5 per cent to 19.8 cents. Sembcorp Industries (SCI) gained S$0.02 or 1 per cent to S$1.94.

This comes after SMM's rights issue to recapitalise the company was undersubscribed, with valid acceptances and excess applications received for 9.4 billion rights shares, or 90.2 per cent of the nearly 10.5 billion rights shares available. The 1.03 billion unsubscribed rights shares will be mopped up by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek.

According to application results on Monday, SMM's parent company SCI subscribed for 7.5 billion, or 72 per cent of the available shares by setting off a S$1.5 billion loan it extended to SMM in June 2019.

Other active securities included Medtecs International which gained S$0.06 or 4.2 per cent to S$1.50 on a cum-dividend basis, and UG Healthcare which rose S$0.13 or 5.3 per cent to S$2.58.

Over on Wall Street, US markets were closed on Monday for the Labour Day holiday.

European shares rose for the first time in three sessions on Monday, as investors focused on economic green shoots and Covid-19 vaccine developments. The Stoxx 600 index advanced 1.7 per cent, with Frankfurt shares rising 2 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday, encouraged by rallies in major European markets.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.3 per cent or 75.62 points to 23,165.57 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.2 per cent or 2.60 points to 1,612.34.