Singapore stocks open higher on Tuesday; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares rose on Tuesday (May 2) morning after the Labour Day holiday, mirroring gains in Europe.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent or 17.24 points to 3,287.75. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 83 to 35 after 56.2 million securities worth S$50.2 million changed hands.

Seatrium, formerly Sembcorp Marine, was the top-traded counter in terms of volume, increasing 1.6 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.126 after 26.6 million securities were traded.

Other heavily-traded securities included The Place Holdings , which increased 11.1 per cent, or S$0.001 to S$0.01.

Samudera Shipping fell 3.8 per cent or S$0.05 to S$1.28. This came after the group on Friday signalled that its first-quarter revenue and net profit for the three months ended Mar 31, 2023, “recorded a contraction”, compared to the previous year.

Index counter Singtel traded briskly with 1.2 million shares transacted although it remained flat at S$2.55.

The trio of local banks all traded higher. DBS climbed 0.5 per cent or S$0.15 to S$32.97. UOB inched up 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$28.27, while OCBC rose 1 per cent or S$0.13 to S$12.71.

Major US indices ended slightly lower on Monday after JPMorgan Chase acquired the embattled First Republic Bank, as markets traded cautiously ahead of a Federal Reserve decision.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.1 per cent lower at 34,051.70. The broad-based S&P 500 dipped less than 0.1 per cent to 4,167.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also declined 0.1 per cent to 12,212.60.

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In Europe, shares ended higher on Friday (Apr 29) after upbeat earnings and a rise in oil stocks. The Stoxx 600 index gained 0.6 per cent to 466.74.

The European market was closed on Monday in observance of the Labour Day holiday.