Singapore shares open higher on Tuesday; STI up 0.74%

SINGAPORE shares jumped at the opening bell on Tuesday, tracking a US market session that saw healthy gains overnight. Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 23.86 points or 0.74 per cent to 3,242.72 as at 9.04am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 105 to 36, after 83.2 million securities worth S$72.1 million changed hands.

AusGroup was the most traded counter by volume in the morning, rising S$0.005 or 10.6 per cent to S$0.052 after 27.5 million shares were traded as at 9.05am.

SGX was one of the more active stocks by value, heading up by S$0.13 or 1.5 per cent to S$8.74 after about 1.2 million shares changed hands.

All three banks gained ground amid a sea of green on the Singapore bourse. DBS rose S$0.31 or 1.2 per cent to S$26.17, OCBC gained S$0.07 or 0.6 per cent to S$10.99 while UOB increased S$0.17 or 0.7 per cent to S$26.54.

US stocks shrugged off early weakness and pushed higher at Monday's close as investors weighed whether escalating US-Iran tensions would significantly affect the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2 per cent at 28,703.38 while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.4 per cent to close at 3,246.28 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.6 per cent to 9,071.47.

In Europe, shares slipped on Monday as investors continued to trim risky bets amid escalating tensions between US and Iran. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index dropped 0.4 per cent, well off its session lows but down for the second straight day.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher as the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.52 per cent, or 120.91 points, to 23,325.77 in early trade and the broader Topix index advanced 0.54 per cent or 9.11 points at 1,706.60.