Singapore shares open 5.7 points lower on Tuesday

SINGAPORE share prices opened lower on Tuesday with the key Straits Times Index down 5.7 points to 2,846.44.

Some 35 million shares worth S$85 million were done as at 9.01am, with 66 counters up and 48 down.

US stocks closed almost flat overnight on Monday ahead of this week's meetings of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan (BOJ).

The meetings by the two central banks will be on top of investors' watch list.

Analysts expect the Fed to stay put and not raise rates although they do expect it to happen in December despite the latest job and data misses.

As for the BOJ, there are expectations that it could deliver more negative policy rates.