SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Singapore shares turned positive when the market opened on Tuesday (Nov 30), after the United States and Europe markets regained some of their losses from the previous two trading sessions.

Investors appear to be less worried on Monday as vaccine makers Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson indicated they were already working on a potential formula targeted at the new Omicron coronavirus strain, thus limiting the impact of the latest outbreak.

The Straits Times Index (STI) advanced 0.1 per cent, or 4.13 points, to 3,124.71 as at 9.03 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 84 to 41, after 71.2 million securities worth $100 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded by volume at the open, opening higher at 8.5 cents, up 0.2 cent, or 2.4 per cent, with eight million shares changing hands.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was also actively traded, rising 2.3 per cent, or three cents, to $1.33, with 6.7 million shares traded. Glovemaker UG Healthcare was down 5.9 per cent, or 2.5 cents, to 40 cents, with 3.2 million shares traded.

DBS Bank went up by 0.6 per cent, or 19 cents, at $30.98. OCBC Bank was up 0.2 per cent, or two cents, to $11.36. UOB, however, was down 0.4 per cent, or 11 cents, to $26.42 as at 9.04 am.

Other active index counters include Singapore Airlines, which was up 0.4 per cent, or two cents, to $4.93, and ComfortDelGro, which was down 0.7 per cent, or one cent, to $1.42.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks partially recovered on Monday, winning back some of Friday's (Nov 26) losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 35,135.94, up 0.7 per cent, while S&P 500 gained 1.3 per cent to 4,655.27 and Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.9 per cent to 15,782.83.

In a testimony released on Monday, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the Omicron variant could slow the recovery of the US economy and labour market, and heighten uncertainty regarding inflation.

In Europe, stocks also rose on Monday after suffering its worst day in 17 months on Friday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.7 per cent higher after dropping 3.7 per cent on Friday, logging its best day in a month.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 index up 1.1 per cent or 318.09 points at 28,602.01 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 1.1 per cent or 21.82 points at 1,970.30.