Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 0.21 pct

Singapore shares closed 0.21 percent lower on Thursday, as Greece's debt crisis weighed on investors' sentiment.

While Greek officials spoke optimistically on Wednesday of reaching a cash-for-reforms deal, with economy minister George Stathakis saying Greece and its international creditors have converged on key points, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble retorted that there was not much progress in the debt talks and that he was surprised by the upbeat tone from some Greek government officials.

Uncertainty over whether Greece can get the support it needs to make payments to the International Monetary Fund on June 5 is likely to keep investors cautious for now. But there are also some investors betting on the kind of last-minute deals that have prevented a default since began more than five years ago.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index fell 7.17 points to 3, 417.77 points. Trading volume was 1.88 billion shares worth 1.11 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 260 to 194, while 504 stocks did not move.

United Envirotech Limited shed 0.3 percent to 1.765 Singapore dollars. It reported a full-year net profit of 62.4 million Singapore dollars, up 197 percent on turnover of 349 million Singapore dollars which was also 73 percent higher on-year.

Going forward, the uptrend in water treatment sales will continue as the company has secured more projects. Recent project wins include waste water treatment project in Xinjiang, Hebei and Jiangsu. A joint venture will also be set up with China National Offshore Oil Corporation to construct treatment facilities for its petrochemical complex in Huizhou.

Cosco Corporation dropped 1.9 percent to 51.5 Singapore cents. It announced it has agreed, in conjunction with its American shipowner customer, to extend the delivery dates of two vessels, originally scheduled for delivery in early 2014. This will be extended until June 30, 2016 despite the fact that the construction of both Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) are " significantly completed".

Under the agreement, the ship owner can choose to take delivery of any one or both of the completed PSVs at any time before June 30, 2016. The two contracts were part of four vessels, worth over 105 million U.S. dollars in all, signed in early 2012.

Among top gainers, Jardine Matheson rose 1.2 percent to 62.72 U. S. dollars, while DBS Group became one of the top losers by falling 0.6 percent to 20.58 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.35 Singapore dollars) Endi