Singapore shares rise at Tuesday’s open; STI up 0.8%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Tuesday (Mar 21), after US and Europe equities rose overnight.

As at 9 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.8 per cent or 23.67 points to 3,163.43. Gainers outnumbered losers 102 to 39, after 73.6 million securities worth S$76.1 million changed hands. 

The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine, which rose 2.9 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.108 with 31.6 million securities traded. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, another heavily traded counter, was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.01 at S$1.19, with 2.7 million shares transacted.

Banking shares opened higher in morning trade. As at 9.04 am, DBS gained 1.4 per cent or S$0.43 to S$32.65, while UOB increased 1 per cent or S$0.28 to S$28.49. OCBC rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$12.13.

Singtel was up 1.3 per cent or S$0.03 at S$2.43, while Lendlease Reit rose 0.7 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.675.

Wall Street stocks ended higher on hopes that turmoil in the banking sector may be easing, after Switzerland’s largest bank UBS agreed to a takeover of troubled rival Credit Suisse. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.2 per cent to 32,244.58, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index rose 0.9 per cent to 3,951.57. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index picked up 0.4 per cent to 11,675.54.

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European shares rose on Monday as well, led by banking stocks, which rebounded from three-month lows sparked by UBS’ deal to buy Credit Suisse. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index gained 1 per cent to close at 440.6, after having fallen nearly 2 per cent earlier in the day.