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Roundup: Singapore stocks end almost flat

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Singapore shares closed 0.01 percent higher on Thursday as the closely-watched U.S. Federal Reserve's April meeting minutes contained no major surprises.

The Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed many officials believed it would be premature to hike interest rates in June, which did not take the markets by surprise.

But some investors were concerned with the continued weakness of China's manufacturing activities. The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which measured China's manufacturing activities, grew slower than expected as it grew to 49.1 in May from a 12-month low of 48.9, still below the 50-point threshold that separates growth from contraction, and also fell short of market expectation of 49.3.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index inched up 0.18 points to 3439.86 points. Trading volume was 2.13 billion shares worth 2. 21 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 225 to 186, while 548 stocks did not move.

Gallant Venture Limited closed flat at 24 Singapore cents. It said it has priced a proposed sale of 55 million Singapore dollars worth of notes due in April 2018. It will be issued under the 500 million U.S. dollar medium-term note program established by the company in November 2013, and will be sold at their principal amount and carry a coupon of 7 percent. The notes will be consolidated with a prior 175 million Singapore dollar worth of notes that were issued on April 6 this year.

Singapore Post Limited dropped 0.5 percent to 1.86 Singapore dollars. It announced that it has fully disposed of 2 subsidiaries Novation Solutions Limited and DataPost (HK) Private Limited for cash consideration of 24.4 million Singapore dollars. The 2 subsidiaries have a combined net tangible asset value of 19.2 million Singapore dollars.

Among top gainers, Great Eastern Holdings rose 2.1 percent to 24.70 Singapore dollars, while Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by falling 0.4 percent to 60.05 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.34 Singapore dollars) Endi