Singapore shares open in the red on Tuesday; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks fell at the opening bell on Tuesday (Apr 30) morning, despite overnight gains in global markets.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) fell 8.54 points or 0.3 per cent to 3,273.51. Across the broader market, gainers were on a par with losers 51 to 51 after 60.9 million securities worth S$48.6 million changed hands. 

Seatrium : S51 0% was the most heavily traded counter by volume. The counter was down 1.1 per cent or S$0.001 at S$0.092, after 30.7 million securities were transacted. 

Other counters that were briskly traded included Disa : 532 0% which remained flat at S$0.002, after 3.6 million shares changed hands, and Yoma Strategic : Z59 0% which gained 4.3 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.049, after 2.8 million securities were traded.

Banking stocks were down during early trade. DBS : D05 0% shed 0.5 per cent or S$0.18 to S$34.60, OCBC : O39 0% declined 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$14.16, and UOB : U11 0% dipped 0.4 per cent or S$0.11 to S$30.39.

Over on Wall Street, stocks inched up on Monday ahead of a Federal Reserve interest rate decision, and the release of key earnings reports and US economic data this week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 15,983.08, and the broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.3 per cent to 5,116.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4 per cent to 38,386.09.

In Europe, stocks lost some steam on Monday following higher-than-expected inflation in Germany. The pan-European Stoxx 600 eked out a gain of 0.1 per cent to close at 508.34.