Singapore shares open higher on Tuesday; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Tuesday after Wall Street had closed sharply higher overnight.

Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.5 per cent or 13.27 points to 2,496.28 as at 9.04am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 92 to 31, after 50.7 million securities worth S$54.4 million changed hands.

Accordia Golf Trust was the most traded security by volume in the morning, unchanged at S$0.73 after 5.3 million units changed hands.

Keppel Infrastructure Trust also saw heavy trading, rising 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.9 per cent to 55 cents with 1.7 million units changing hands.

Meanwhile, Frasers Centrepoint Trust lost S$0.14 or 5.6 per cent to S$2.38. It on Tuesday said its private placement had closed about 2.8 times subscribed and priced at the bottom end of the range, with the upsize option not exercised.

All three local lenders gained ground in early trade. Fitch Ratings had on Monday affirmed its AA- ratings on Singapore banks and removed the trio from rating watch negative.

DBS rose S$0.15 or 0.7 per cent to S$20.37, OCBC was up S$0.08 or 0.9 per cent to S$8.60, while UOB increased S$0.19 or 1 per cent to S$19.47.

In the US, stocks rallied to close sharply higher on Monday as investors sought bargains among sectors hardest-hit by the coronavirus recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 410.1 points or 1.51 per cent to 27,584.06, the S&P 500 gained 53.14 points or 1.61 per cent to 3,351.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 203.96 points or 1.87 per cent to 11,117.53.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Topix index fell 0.9 per cent on Tuesday, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.6 per cent and South Korea's Kospi index rose 0.9 per cent.