Singapore shares recover following Wall Street rally; STI up 0.31%

SINGAPORE stocks recovered slightly on Tuesday morning from the previous day's losses, tracking overnight record highs on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index gained 0.31 per cent or 9.92 points to 3,173.07 points as at 9.02am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 82 to 42, after about 54.9 million securities worth S$51.9 million changed hands.

The most heavily traded counter was Clearbridge Health, which rose 0.6 Singapore cent or 3.8 per cent to 16.6 cents with 8.3 million shares traded.

Medtecs International shed 0.3 Singapore cent or 2.7 per cent to S$0.108 after 3.9 million shares changed hands, while Thai Beverage Public Company lost 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.7 per cent to S$0.745 on 3.8 million shares traded.

Banking stocks started the morning in positive territory. DBS gained seven Singapore cents or 0.3 per cent to S$25.18, UOB rose 14 Singapore cents or 0.6 per cent to S$25.71, and OCBC Bank was up eight Singapore cents or 0.8 per cent to S$10.80.

Other active index securities included the Singapore Exchange which rose 20 Singapore cents or 2.3 per cent to S$8.99, and Singtel which gained one Singapore cent or 0.3 per cent to S$3.30 as at 9.02am.

Consumer price index figures released on Tuesday showed that Singapore's headline inflation was 0.6 per cent year on year in June, down from 0.9 per cent in May. Core inflation edged down to 1.2 per cent year on year.

The Singapore bourse's mild gains on Tuesday came after Wall Street's rally overnight as US markets kept a close eye on the virus outbreak while anticipating two days of congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell. The S&P 500 climbed 0.7 per cent to end at 3,352.09 on Monday, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.1 per cent to close at 9,628.39.

In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.07 per cent higher, marking its best week in three months.

Markets in Japan were closed on Tuesday due to a public holiday.