Singapore shares rise at Tuesday’s open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares started trading in positive territory on Tuesday (Dec 24) morning, mirroring overnight gains in global markets.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) opened 0.2 per cent or 7.96 points higher at 3,760.29. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 57 to 27 after 49 million securities worth S$22.3 million changed hands.

One of the most actively traded counters by volume was Indonesian coal producer Geo Energy Resources. It gained 1.7 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.295, with 1.9 million shares changing hands.

Shares of offshore and marine specialist Seatrium were also briskly traded, rising 1.6 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.96. This comes after the company announced that it secured a contract to perform engineering, procurement, construction and onshore commissioning work for a deepwater new-build production unit.

Singtel’s shares were up 0.7 per cent or S$0.02 at S$3.12.

Banking stocks were trading mixed at the open. DBS inched down 0.02 per cent or S$0.01 to S$43.35. UOB lost 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$36.21. OCBC rose 0.6 per cent or S$0.09 to S$16.58.

Wall Street stocks ended higher on Monday, buoyed by tech giants. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2 per cent at 42,906.95. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent to 5,974.07, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1 per cent to 19,764.88.

In Europe, shares rose as a spike in Novo Nordisk shares boosted the healthcare sector and capped losses on the main stock index. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.1 per cent higher at 502.91 points.