Singapore shares rise at Tuesday's open; STI up 0.23% to 3,072.49

SINGAPORE stocks opened stronger on Tuesday, with the Straits Times Index adding 0.23 per cent or 7.16 points to 3,072.49 as at 9.05am, after US President Donald Trump's optimistic comments on a resumption of trade talks with China.

On the Singapore bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 53, or about seven securities up for every five down, after 42.5 million securities worth S$137.7 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Singtel declined 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$3.15 with 5.4 million shares traded. ESR-Reit rose 2 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.52 with three million shares traded. TEE International advanced 5 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.063 with 2.4 million shares traded.

Active index stocks included Wilmar International, up 1.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$3.74; and UOL Group, down 0.3 per cent or S$0.02 to S$7.13.

Banking stocks opened stronger, with DBS Group Holdings up 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$24.12, OCBC Bank up 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$10.55, and United Overseas Bank up 0.3 per cent or S$0.06 to S$24.51.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday on easing trade fears along with the yen declining against the US dollar. The Nikkei 225 index was up 1.02 per cent or 207.05 points at 20,468.09 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.92 per cent or 13.64 points at 1,491.67.

In the US, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average gained just over than 1.0 per cent to close at 25,898.83, while the broader S&P 500 gained 1.1 per cent, ending at 2,878.38. Tech-heavy Nasdaq meanwhile, was up 1.3 per cent, closing at 7,853.74.

Shares in Europe meanwhile stablised, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index ending flat, gaining back some ground after a Friday sell-off triggerred by US-China trade tensions in their tit-for-tat tariff standoff.