Singapore shares rise at Tuesday's open; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Tuesday amid subdued trading globally, with US markets closed for Martin Luther King Day.

Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) headed up 0.4 per cent or 11.04 points to 3,001.44 as at 9.05am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 130 to 43, after 136.2 million securities worth S$95.7 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Jiutian Chemical, which rose 2.9 per cent or 0.3 Singapore cent to 10.8 cents, with 9.4 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities include Halcyon Agri Corporation which was up 1.5 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 34.5 cents, with 4.6 million shares traded, as well as Sembcorp Marine, which advanced 0.6 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 16.9 cents with 4.6 million shares traded.

Fu Yu Corp shed 1.6 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 30.5 cents with six million shares traded. It said on Monday night that its founders will sell the company for S$58.3 million and retire and step down as directors.

Banking stocks rose in early morning trade. DBS was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.21 to S$26.20, UOB gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.11 to S$23.98, while OCBC advanced 0.6 per cent or S$0.06 to S$10.64.

Other active index counters included Singapore Exchange which moved up 1.6 per cent or S$0.16 to S$10.02 and Singtel, which held steady at S$2.45.

European shares rose on Monday, bolstered by a jump in carmaker Stellantis and luxury stocks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.2 per cent higher after see-sawing through the session.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday after two days of profit taking. Nikkei 225 index was up 0.7 per cent at 28,434.16 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.2 per cent to 1,848.84.