Singapore stocks rise at Tuesday's open; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Tuesday (Apr 26), tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent, or 3.93 points to 3,343.52. as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumber losers 73 to 36, as some 37.3 million securities worth S$42.9 million changed hands.

The most active counter was Jiutian Chemical : C8R 0%, with over 7.1 million securities changing hands. The share price of the fine chemical producer rose 2 per cent, or S$0.002 to S$0.103.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding : BS6 0% also saw brisk trading in early Tuesday trade, with close to 4.5 million securities being transacted. Its share price went up 1.1 per cent, or S$0.01 to S$0.93.

Index counter Singapore Telecommunications : Z74 0% was also heavily traded, with more than 3 million shares changing hands. The counter gained 1.1 per cent, or S$0.03 to S$2.72.

The share prices of the 3 local banks also rose.

DBS : D05 0% went up 0.3 per cent, or S$0.11 to S$33.51, and UOB : U11 0% rose 0.2 per cent, or S$0.07 to S$30.85. OCBC Bank : O39 0% shares increased 0.3 per cent, or S$0.03 to S$12.02.

Overnight in the United States, Wall Street stocks finished higher on Monday following a roller-coaster session at the start of a heavy earnings week.

The market as a whole gyrated throughout the day, grappling with worries over China and the Federal Reserve’s plan to lift interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.7 per cent at 34,049.46, more than 700 points above its session low.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to 4,296.12 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.3 per cent to 13,004.85.

In Europe, commodity stocks led sharp declines across European stock indices as worries about an economic slowdown in China and rapid US interest rate hikes overshadowed relief from French Presidential election results.

As investors flocked to the safety of bonds, the continent-wide Stoxx 600 index dropped 1.8 per cent, or 8.20 points to 445.11, its lowest close since mid-March.

China-exposed sectors such as miners, oil and gas, as well as luxury stocks were among the top decliners as fears grew that Beijing was on the verge of joining Shanghai in pandemic-related lockdowns.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday as investors cheered gains on Wall Street while keeping a cautious eye on Chinese shares.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.6 per cent, or 155.59 points, at 26,746.37, while the broader Topix index firmed 0.4 per cent, or 6.69 points, to 1,884.09.