SINGAPORE equities began trading in positive territory on Tuesday (Aug 6), following a global market rout with all three major Wall Street indices spending the entire day in the red.
As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.8 per cent or 24.79 points to 3,268.46. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners 94 to 56, after 63.4 million securities worth S$96.5 million changed hands.
The most actively traded counter by volume was LifeBrandz, with about eight million securities exchanged. It remained flat at S$0.002.
Mapletree Logistics Trust was briskly transacted with four million units changing hands. It rose 1.6 per cent or S$0.02 to $1.31. Singtel opened 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 higher at S$2.92.
Banking stocks also traded higher at the opening bell. DBS rose 0.9 per cent or S$0.30 to S$33.57, while UOB increased 0.7 per cent or S$0.22 to S$30.30. OCBC gained 1.4 per cent or S$0.19 to S$14.21.
Wall Street stocks suffered a bruising rout on Monday, extending a pullback attributed to economic unease and fallout from recent lurches in overseas financial markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.6 per cent, or more than 1,000 points, to finish at 38,703.27. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 3 per cent to end at 5,186.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 3.4 per cent to 16,200.08.
The main European stocks index hit its lowest in more than six months on Monday, as fears of a slowdown in the world’s largest economy knocked equities globally. The Stoxx 600 closed 2.2 per cent lower at 487.05, but off the day’s low. It logged its steepest three-day decline since June 2022, closing below the key 500-point mark for a second day.
