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

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Tuesday (Feb 8), amid overnight losses on Wall Street as pressures over inflation mount.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.4 per cent or 14 points to 3,380.48 as at 9.03 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 89 to 35, after 59.4 million securities worth S$100.2 million changed hands.

Mobile satellite communications company Addvalue Technologies A31 was the top gainer of the morning in terms of volume. The counter was trading flat at S$0.013, after 9.9 million shares were traded as at 9.04 am.

Property developer Hatten Land PH0 was also trading unchanged at S$0.051, with 4.9 million shares changing hands.

Index counter Genting Singapore G13 was among the most actively traded securities, with 3.8 million shares traded. The counter was trading at S$0.77, up S$0.01 or 1.3 per cent.

The trio of local banks were a sea of green in early morning trade. DBS D05 was up S$0.22 or 0.6 per cent to S$36.70, UOB U11 rose S$0.36 or 1.1 per cent to trade at S$32.28, while OCBC O39 climbed S$0.05 or 0.4 per cent to S$13.01 as at 9.04 am.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks finished a choppy session mostly lower on Monday, extending a run of volatility amid worries over monetary policy and Ukraine tensions.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to 4,483.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.6 per cent to 14,015.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished flat at 35,091.13.

Meanwhile, European stocks rose on Monday after 5 straight weeks of declines as gains in mining stocks and positive earnings outweighed worries of a looming policy tightening cycle and geopolitical tensions.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.7 per cent to 465.38 after sinking more than 5 per cent this year.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday despite falls on Wall Street, with investors focused on corporate earnings reports.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.2 per cent or 59.83 points at 27,308.70 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.3 per cent or 4.84 points at 1,930.83.