Roundup: Singapore stocks end up 1.17 pct

Singapore shares closed 1.17 percent higher on Thursday, after U.S. stocks rallied overnight as investors believed the U.S. economy was strong enough to handle a rate hike.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting last month revealed that most Federal Reserve officials have signaled they expect to raise interest rates this year for the first time since 2006.

That message was underscored when policy makers added a reference to the "next meeting" on December 15 and 16 in their October statement, in connection with their assessment on when to act.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index rose 33.75 points to 2,919.83 points. Trading volume was 1 billion shares worth 776 million Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 255 to 135, while 543 stocks did not move.

SembCorp Marine dropped 0.5 percent to 2.19 Singapore dollars. Its subsidiary Sembcorp Marine Rigs and Floaters has secured a contract to design and build a new floating, storage and offloading vessel for MODEC Offshore Production Systems (Singapore).

It did not reveal the value of the contract, but said the vessel is scheduled for delivery in first quarter of 2018.

Linc Energy dropped 1.3 percent to 15.3 Singapore cents. The Australian energy company revealed it has entered into a due diligence and exclusivity agreement with an Australian company on November 11 in relation to its shale oil assets, but no formal negotiations regarding the asset sale have been held at this time.

Under the deal, the counterparty has 30 days of exclusivity from the date of execution to undertake due diligence on Linc's shale oil assets.

Among the top gainers, Jardine Cycle and Carriage rose 2.3 percent to 32.70 Singapore dollars, whereas Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by falling 0.2 percent to 51.03 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.42 Singapore dollars) Enditem