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

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Tuesday, tracking gains on Wall Street. The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.4 per cent or 12.25 points to 3,130.12 as at 9.05am.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 148 to 33 after 153.7 million securities worth S$84.6 million changed hands.

LifeBrandz was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 30.3 million shares worth S$150,000 traded as at 9.05am. Its shares declined 16.7 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 0.5 cent.

Alset International, the Catalist-listed property investment and development company formerly known as Singapore eDevelopment, also saw brisk trading, with 9.8 million shares worth S$700,000 changing hands. Its shares gained 17.7 per cent or 1.1 Singapore cents to 7.3 cents.

This comes after the company said its US-based indirect subsidiary Alset EHome has partnered electric vehicle (EV) company Tesla to deliver its first 20 eco-friendly homes in the Houston area of Texas.

Index stock Singtel was also actively traded, with 2.9 million shares worth S$6.8 million changing hands. Its shares gained 0.9 per cent or two Singapore cents to S$2.31.

The trio of local banks were trading higher on Wednesday morning. DBS rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.13 to S$29.76 as at 9.05am. UOB was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.16 to S$25.79 and OCBC gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$11.95.

Over on Wall Street, markets rebounded on Monday, led by financial, industrial and energy shares. This comes after the Dow last week suffered its worst week since October 2020, dropping 3.4 per cent, after the Fed moved up its forecasts for raising interest rates while still arguing that consumer price increases were transient.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1.8 per cent to finish at 33,876.97. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.4 per cent to 4,224.79, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.8 per cent to 14,141.48.

European shares gained on Monday, led by automobile and chemical stocks after central bank head Christine Lagarde said eurozone economic growth could rebound quicker than expected as consumers begin spending again.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.7 per cent higher at 455.23 points after falling to its lowest since June 3 earlier in the session. The index also marked its best day in nearly three weeks.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened sharply higher on Tuesday, tracking gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 1.8 per cent or 500.60 points to 28,511.53 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 1.7 per cent or 33.03 points at 1,932.48.