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Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 0.58 pct

Xinhua, August 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Singapore shares closed 0.58 percent lower on Tuesday, as strong housing data raised likelihood of U.S. rate hike as early as next month.

The U.S National Association of Home Builders showed U.S. homebuilder sentiment rose in August to its highest level since a matching reading almost a decade ago. Most investors now believe U. S. is on track to hike rate later this year for the first time in nearly a decade, but are unsure of the pace of any subsequent rate hikes, given the fragile state of the global economy.

DBS Group Research said as the weakness in regional currencies against the greenback looks likely to continue, the Singapore dollar could also feel the pressure heading to the Monetary Authority of Singapore policy meeting in October 2015. This could fuel further fund outflows and create more volatility for Singapore stocks.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index fell 17.70 points to 3,049.65 points. Trading volume was 1.53 billion shares worth 1.17 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 354 to 111, while 475 stocks did not move.

Noble Group slumped 8.8 percent to 41.5 Singapore cents. Yusuf Alireza, the chief executive of commodities trader acknowledged at an "investor day" on Monday that the company must implement recommendations by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) made in a review of the firm's accounting.

He said the review was positive for Noble, but that the company would address PwC's recommendations regarding transparency and consistency in its accounting. Alireza added the company's focus going forward would be on consolidation of the business.

Japfa Limited fell 1.6 percent to 31 Singapore cents. It announced that it will invest 20 million U.S. dollars for a 10 percent stake in Food Union's China Milk Processing Plant.

Food Union is the largest dairy company in Latvia. The processing plant is based in Dongying city of Shandong. It will have a capacity of about 300,000 metric tons per annum of milk and sits on 77,000 square meters of land. The plant is expected to start operations in first quarter of 2017.

Among the top gainers, Lizhong Wheel soared 92 percent to 49 Singapore cents, whereas Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by falling 1.1 percent to 52 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.4 Singapore dollars) Endi