Singapore shares open higher on Tuesday; STI up 1%

SINGAPORE stocks booked strong gains on Tuesday (Oct 25) morning in tandem with global market rallies, with investors worldwide cheered by signs of greater political normalcy in Britain.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index gained 29.04 or nearly 1 per cent to 2,998.99 after 53 million securities worth S$84.3 million changed hands. Gainers outnumbered losers 107 to 57.

CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust was the top traded counter on Tuesday morning, with 3.5 million shares traded. The counter advanced 3.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$1.80.

Index counter Singtel also saw brisk trading, rising 1.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.41, with 3 million shares trading hands.

Shares of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Thai Beverage were actively transacted as well. Both counters remained unchanged at S$1.22 and S$0.565 respectively.

Meanwhile, the trio of banks all opened Tuesday’s trading session in the green. DBS was up 0.7 per cent or S$0.21 to S$32.60. Similarly shares of UOB and OCBC rose as well, with the former climbing 1.1 per cent or S$0.28 to S$26.27, and the latter rising 1.3 per cent or S$0.15 to S$11.68.

In the US, Wall Street stocks powered higher for a second straight session on Monday, cheered by signs of greater political normalcy in Britain and optimism about corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.3 per cent, or more than 415 points, at 31,499.62. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.2 per cent to 3,797.34, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.9 per cent to 10,952.61.

European shares likewise rose on Monday on hopes the Federal Reserve could slow its pace of interest rate hikes, while investors welcomed Rishi Sunak’s victory in Britain’s prime ministerial race and looked ahead to a key rate decision from the European Central Bank.

SEE ALSO

Stocks to watch: CICT, LMIRT, Addvalue Technologies

The continent-wide Stoxx 600 index closed 1.4 per cent up at its highest level in nearly a week, with utilities, media and travel and leisure sectors leading the gains.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday, with investors gradually shifting focus to Japanese corporate earnings reports that are beginning to be released.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.5 per cent, or 121.19 points, at 27,096.19 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.49 per cent, or 9.25 points, at 1,896.44.