Singapore stocks: STI resumes Tuesday afternoon up 0.66% on day

SINGAPORE shares held onto their gains as trading resumed on Tuesday afternoon, with the benchmark Straits Times Index advancing 20.81 points or 0.66 per cent to 3,183.96 as at 1pm.

Gainers outnumbered losers 197 to 136, after about 711.7 million securities worth S$568.6 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Clearbridge Health gained 0.7 Singapore cent or 4.4 per cent to S$0.167, with 54.7 million shares traded, while Medtecs International fell 0.2 Singapore cent or 1.8 per cent to S$0.109, after 53.9 million shares changed hands.

The trio of banks were all in the green after the midday break. DBS gained S$0.09 or 0.4 per cent to S$25.20, United Overseas Bank added S$0.27 or 1.1 per cent to S$25.84, and OCBC Bank rose S$0.12 or 1.1 per cent to S$10.84.

Other active stocks included AEM Holdings which increased by S$0.06 or 3.2 per cent to S$1.94, and the Singapore Exchange which gained S$0.23 or 2.6 per cent to S$9.02.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, stocks rebounded amid easing investor jitters over the novel coronavirus spread.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.2 per cent while China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.4 per cent.

Australian stocks were also up, gaining 0.5 per cent, while South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.2 per cent.