Singapore stocks: STI resumes Tuesday afternoon down 0.26% on day

SINGAPORE stocks remained downbeat as trading resumed on Tuesday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index retreating 0.26 per cent or 8.43 points on the day to 3,212.20 as at 1.04pm.

Gainers outnumbered losers 159 to 145, after 620.1 million securities worth about S$446.5 million changed hands.

Among the most active securities, Golden Agri-Resources edged down S$0.01 or 4.6 per cent to S$0.21 after 62.5 million shares were traded. Other actives included Rex International and JCG Investment.

Singtel and Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) were among the more active index stocks. Singtel was down S$0.05 or 1.5 per cent to S$3.27, while MCT was down S$0.02 or 0.8 per cent to S$2.38.

Among the local lenders, DBS traded up S$0.02 or 0.1 per cent to S$25.67 and UOB was up S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent to S$26.17, but OCBC was flat at S$10.96.

Other Asian markets were mixed as investors tracked developments in the China-US trade talks, while Chinese online retail giant Alibaba surged almost 8 per cent on its Hong Kong debut.

Hong Kong and Shanghai both dropped 0.1 per cent, while Jakarta also lost ground.

Tokyo rose 0.6 per cent by lunch as the trade optimism lifted the dollar against the yen, providing a boost to Japanese exporters, while Seoul was up 0.4 per cent.

Sydney and Wellington both rose 0.6 per cent, while Taipei and Manila also edged higher.