Singapore shares close higher on Tuesday; STI now up 2.1% for 2017

THE Straits Times Index (STI) managed to extend its good start to 2017 with a 16.47 points rise to 3,041.95 on Tuesday, which brought its gain for the year to 61 points or 2.1 per cent.

Turnover improved from the sub-S$1 billion totals of the previous week to 2.3 billion units worth S$1.3 billion and, excluding warrants, there were 248 rises versus 178 falls.

The index's uptick came despite a slide on Wall Street on Monday, slight weakness in the Dow futures and an indifferent session in Hong Kong where the Hang Seng Index ended just 0.2 per cent higher.

Banks have been chiefly responsible for the STI's performance over the past year and so it was again on Tuesday when DBS's S$0.32 or 1.7 per cent jump to S$18.66 on volume of 9.5 million alone added about seven points to the index.