Singapore stocks: STI resumes Tuesday afternoon at 3,156.15, up 0.3% on day

SINGAPORE shares resumed trading in positive territory on Tuesday, with the Straits Times Index rising 0.3 per cent, or 9.82 points to 3,156.15 as at 1.02pm.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 162 to 135, after about 398.4 million shares worth S$442.3 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, YZJ Shipbuilding rose 1 per cent, or one cent to 99 Singapore cents, with 16.3 million shares traded; while Healthway Medical was flat at 2.5 cents with 9.3 million shares traded; and Genting Singapore tumbled 1.7 per cent, or 1.5 cents to 88.5 cents on an ex-dividend basis, with 8.6 million shares traded.

Propping up the index were the three local banks - United Overseas Bank led with a 1.7 per cent, or 44 cents gain to S$25.98, DBS rose 0.9 per cent, or 23 cents to S$25, and OCBC Bank added 0.5 per cent, or five cents to S$10.87.

Other active stocks included CapitaLand Mall Trust which slipped 2.6 per cent, or seven cents to S$2.62, and CapitaLand Commercial Trust which fell 2.3 per cent, or five cents to S$2.10. Meanwhile, CapitaLand added 1.1 per cent, or four cents to S$3.58.

ComfortDelGro lost 2 per cent, or five cents to S$2.45, while Singapore Press Holdings gained 1.5 per cent, or three cents to S$2.02.

Elsewhere, Asian equities traded mixed following a weak lead from the US, ahead of key central bank meetings in coming days.

Japan's Topix climbed 0.4 per cent as of 12.41pm, Australia stocks fell 0.7 per cent, South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.5 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched 0.1 per cent higher, while China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.4 per cent.

S&P 500 Index futures were flat, with the index ended little changed overnight.