Roundup: S'pore stocks end higher as concerns over Greece vote results fade

Singapore shares closed 0.4 percent higher on Tuesday to a fresh one-and-a-half year high, as eurozone officials signaled willingness to compromise with Greece' s newly elected government.

While weekend elections that brought the anti-austerity Syriza party to power in Greece set up a clash between the country and its international creditors, European Union officials showed a willingness on Monday to give Athens more time to pay its debts.

But they also maintained they would not yield to a new Greek government's demands for debt forgiveness, warning that the country's economic problems had not disappeared.

Meanwhile, bad weather in the United States curbed activity on Wall Street overnight, and investors also turned cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

DBS Group Research said: "We take the view that any further immediate upside is limited to 3,450 points. Meanwhile, the ' rising gap' on Straits Times Index's daily chart last week places near-term support at 3,380 points and 3,390 points."

The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 13.68 points to close at 3,412.2 points. Trading volume was 1.85 billion shares worth 1.49 billion Singapore dollars (1.11 billion U.S. dollars). Advancers outnumbered decliners 267 to 187, while 487 stocks closed unchanged.

CapitaLand close flat at 3.53 Singapore dollars. Its wholly- owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited, has secured contracts to manage three more properties with over 300 apartment units in Beijing and Hong Kong. The new properties will further reinforce Ascott's leadership position as the largest international serviced residence owner-operator in China, with over 12,900 apartment units in 72 properties across 23 cities.

Gallant Venture Limited dropped two percent to close at 24 Singapore cents. It intended to issue 75-million-Singapore dollar 7-percent notes due 2017 under the 500 million Euro medium term note program. It said the net proceeds will be used for the partial refinancing of the existing syndicated term loans.

JES International Holdings rose 2.7 percent to close at 3.8 Singapore cents. It proposed to place 183 million new shares at 3. 6 Singapore cents per share. The placement price represented a discount of approximately 0.28 percent to the last weighted average price. The funds raised will be partly used for repayment of loans.

Among the top gainers, Jardine Matheson rose 3.8 percent to close at 67.22 U.S. dollars, whereas CapitaCommercial Trust became one of the top losers by falling 3.7 percent to close at 1.84 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar = 1.34 Singapore dollars) Endi