Singapore shares open higher on Monday; STI up 0.6% to 2,990.65

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Monday, with the Straits Times Index advancing 18.63 points or 0.6 per cent to 2,990.65 as at 9.05am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 49, as about 53.9 million shares worth S$79.6 million in total changed hands.

The most actively traded counter was Genting Singapore with 11.6 million shares traded, rising 1.16 per cent or one Singapore cent to 87.5 Singapore cents.

Golden Agri-Resources saw with 4.48 million units traded, down 1.96 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 25 Singapore cents. Indonesia's anti-graft agency announced on Sunday it has arrested seven people, including senior executives of palm firm Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology and PT Binasawit Abadi Pratama in connection with a bribery case. 

Both Sinar Mas Agro and Binasawit are subsidiaries of Singapore-listed palm oil giant Golden Agri-Resources Ltd.

Meanwhile, active index stocks included UOB, which gained 0.83 per cent or 20 Singapore cents to S$24.27, while ST Engineering added 1.17 per cent or four Singapore cents to S$3.45.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday, shrugging off falls in US shares last week, but investors appeared cautious with corporate earnings report season under way in Japan and the US.