Singapore stocks open higher on Tuesday after US holiday; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher to slower trading on Tuesday morning (Jul 5), following Wall Street’s 4th of July trading holiday.

The Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 0.4 per cent or 12.96 points to 3,133.20 as at 9.01 am. Advancers outnumbered decliners 87 to 27 after 33.9 million securities worth S$28.4 million changed hands.

Golden Agri-Resources was the top traded counter by volume, dropping 2 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.245 with some 3.5 million shares traded in the morning.

Other heavily traded securities include watch-listed Parkson Retail , which surged 2.5 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.041 with 3.3 million shares changing hands, as well as Hwa Hong , which saw 643,600 shares traded as it held its unchanged S$0.40 share price.

On Monday, ahead of Hwa Hong’s general offer deadline, the company announced that its shareholding directors “are increasingly of the view that maximising shareholder value would be best achieved outside the timeline and constraints imposed by the general offer” made by Sanjuro United at S$0.40 per Hwa Hong share.

Among index counters, Singtel saw brisk trading with 1.6 million shares changing hands at the open. The counter jumped 1.6 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.60.

The trio of local banks were all higher in early trade. As at 9.01 am, DBS gained 0.4 per cent or S$0.12 to S$30.12, UOB opened 0.5 per cent or S$0.12 higher at S$26.80 and OCBC inched up 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$11.44.

Over on Wall Street, trading was closed on Monday as stocks took a break for the US’ independence day holiday.

The US market holiday led to subdued trading in Europe. European shares rose on Monday as the oil and gas sector marked its best session in two months, but this was tempered by weak investor morale ahead of the European Central Bank’s interest rate hike plans for this month.

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The continent-wide Stoxx 600 index was up 0.5 per cent after falling last week on worries about a potential global economic slowdown.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday as investors sought out value stocks while US markets were closed for a national holiday. 

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.74 per cent, or 193.31 points, to 26,347.12 in early trade, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.55 per cent, or 10.36 points, to 1,880.07.