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Roundup: Singapore stocks end up 0.47 pct

Xinhua, January 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Singapore shares closed 0.47 percent higher on Thursday, as investors bet the European Central Bank (ECB) will unveil a massive bond-buying stimulus program later Thursday in an attempt to revive the flagging euro-zone economy.

Widely circulated in the market were rumours that ECB executive board will propose purchasing roughly 50 billion euros a month in bonds for at least a year, but investors wanted something like 60 billion euros or more per month.

Meanwhile, Wall Street managed to eke out gains following President Obama's State of the Union Address overnight.

Obama reassured citizens that the economy was recovering, but that there should be more stricter tax measures for corporations that invested money abroad that was still affecting job growth in the United States.

The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 15.83 points to close at 3,370.29 points. Trading volume was 1.65 billion shares worth 1.29 billion Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 295 to 146, while 498 stocks closed unchanged.

Voyage Research said: "We anticipate the Straits Times Index to trade in the range of 3,330 points and 3,365 points for the end of this week."

DeClout Limited shed 4.4 percent to 21.5 Singapore cents. It proposed to acquire 51 percent stake in Procurri Asia Pacific ( PAPPL) for 2.7 million Singapore dollars, which shall be satisfied in full by the issuance and allotment of 12 million DeClout shares at an issue price of 22.5 Singapore cents per share.

The principal activities of PAPPL comprise wholesale of computer hardware and peripheral equipment, and the repair and maintenance of computer hardware and peripherals and data processing equipment.

Mapletree Commercial Trust rose two percent to 1.505 Singapore dollars. It reported its third-quarter distribution per unit (DPU) was up 11.5 percent to 2.08 Singapore cents while year-to-date DPU was up 10.7 percent to 6 Singapore cents. The results are attributed to sound growth at shopping mall VivoCity. Shopper traffic and tenant sales have been relatively resilient. The Trust has also successfully refinanced its debt by raising 50 million Singapore dollars this quarter through the issuance of five year fixed rate note. It is also putting together a term loan facility of 200 million Singapore dollars this month.

Among the top gainers, Jardine Cycle and Carriage rose 1.2 percent to 40.83 Singapore dollars, whereas Singapore Airlines became one of the top losers by falling 0.6 percent to 12.41 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 1.33 Singapore dollars) Endi