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Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 0.39 pct

Xinhua, February 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Singapore shares closed 0.39 percent lower on Monday, as investors turned cautious on strong U. S. job numbers and China's weak import data.

Last Friday, U.S. reported robust U.S. payroll gains of 257,000 in January. Hourly wages also rebounded, increasing 12 cents last month for a 2.2-percent gain from a year earlier, the largest since August. Friday's surprisingly strong reading of U.S. job numbers makes it more likely in the eyes of investors that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon, which could hit stock markets worldwide.

China's latest trade data, released on Sunday, raised concerns about a deepening slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. China's imports showed a steeper-than-expected drop, plunging 19.9 percent year-on-year in January as exports fell 3.2 percent. Goldman Sachs Research said January's imports were "exceptionally weak," adding that "weak domestic demand growth likely exacerbated the magnitude of the slowdown."

DBS Group Research said, "We maintain our near-term range of 3, 380 points to 3,450 points for the Straits Times Index. Whether the Straits Times Index is able to clear the 3,450 points level soon will depend on earnings revisions when the index heavyweight' s banks and Singapore Telecommunications release their results this week."

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index fell 13.34 points to 3,418.02 points. Trading volume was 1.08 billion shares worth 1.04 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 268 to 157, while 512 stocks did not move.

COSCO Corporation closed flat at 53 Singapore cents. It has secured a contract from a European company to build a shuttle tanker, which is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2017. Separately, the contract awarded earlier to build one module carrier for a European company has been rendered effective. The delivery of the module carrier is also scheduled in the first quarter of 2017. The total contract value is about 160 million U.S. dollars.

Otto Marine rose 4.9 percent to 4.3 Singapore cents. It has secured contracts to charter two platform supply vessels (PSV) to global oil major in Australia for 36 months including options. Net order book is further strengthened by approximately 64 million U.S. dollars based on firm contract value and including options. With the latest orders, Otto's net order book stood at approximately more than 400 million U.S. dollars as of Jan. 31, 2015.

Among top gainers, Jardine Strategic rose 0.4 percent to 35.29 U.S. dollars, while Singapore Airlines became one of the top losers by falling 2.4 percent to 11.84 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.35 Singapore dollars) Endi