Singapore shares open 0.3% up on Tuesday

SINGAPORE stocks opened 0.3 per cent higher on Tuesday, with the Straits Times Index advancing 9.12 points to 3,521.3 as at 9.03am.

About 72.8 million shares worth S$84.9 million in total changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of S$1.17 per share.

The most actively traded counter was Blumont, which rose 0.1 Singapore cent to 0.5 Singapore cent with 10.7 million shares changing hands. Other actives included Jiutian Chemical and Midas.

Active index stocks included Singtel, trading at S$3.62, down 0.28 per cent, and DBS, trading at S$26.27 apiece, down 0.68 per cent.

Gainers outnumbered losers 86 to 51, or about five up for every three down.

In US markets overnight, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at records for the fifth straight session on Monday, but the Dow suffered its first decline of 2018.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent to end the session at 2,747.71, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent to close at 7,157.39, according to AFP reporting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 per cent to 25,283.00.