Singapore shares open higher on Tuesday; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE stocks began Tuesday (Oct 15) trading in positive territory, mirroring overnight gains in overseas markets. 

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.6 per cent or 22.58 points to 3,618.49. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers at 73 to 29 after 22.3 million securities worth S$43.6 million changed hands. 

China-based shipbuilder Yanzijiang Shipbuilding was the most actively traded counter by volume. It increased 3.7 per cent or S$0.09 to S$2.52 with 4.9 million securities switching hands.  

Other actively traded counters included ESR-Logos Reit which rose 1.7 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.295 and offshore oil-and-gas contractor Dyna-Mac which was up 1.5 per cent or S$0.01 at S$0.66. 

Banking stocks were trading up at open. DBS was up 1 per cent or S$0.39 at S$39.52, while OCBC rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.08 to S$15.28 and UOB increased 1.3 per cent or S$0.41 to S$32.59. 

Wall Street stocks closed higher ahead of a string of high-profile corporate earnings.

Finishing at fresh records, the broad-based S&P 500 closed up 0.8 per cent at 5,859.85 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 0.5 per cent at 43,065.22. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9 per cent to finish the day at 18,502.69.

European equities ended Monday at a two-week high ahead of corporate earnings and a European Central Bank policy decision later this week. 

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.5 per cent higher at 524.76 as tech, defence stocks and utilities were up by more than 1.2 per cent.