Off the wire
• China prioritizes water conservation projects in poor areas  • Spotlight: Latin America seeks closer commercial links with China  • Roundup: Central bank of Bangladesh gets new chief after governor resigns over cyber heist  • Heavy smog to hit Beijing, neighboring regions  • Violence against woman by Zambian ruling party youths sparks outrage  • 1st LD Writethru: Russia begins withdrawal of military equipment from Syria  • Chinese customs seize 705 kg of banned stimulant  • Chinese-American chef presents at all-star chef classic in Los Angeles  • Urgent: Car explosion in Berlin kills one  • Roundup: AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol 4-1 in historic Go match  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 0.27 pct

Xinhua, March 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Singapore shares closed 0.27 percent lower on Tuesday, as many investors preferred to wait for the outcome of Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise rates this week but it will likely make clear that as long as U.S. inflation and jobs continue to strengthen, economic weakness overseas will not stop rates from rising fairly soon.

DBS Group Research said "we keep our view that with short-term sentiment underpinned by central's policy easing and the expectation that the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady, the Straits Times Index should head up to 2,900 points."

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index dropped 7.62 points to 2,839.44 points. Trading volume was 1.79 billion shares worth 994 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 230 to 167, while 522 stocks did not move.

Ascott Residence Trust lost 4.9 percent to 1.075 Singapore dollars. It has acquired a second property in New York for 158 million U.S. dollars. The acquisition is expected to increase Ascott's distribution income in financial year 2015 by 6.6 million U.S. dollars. This translates to a rise in distribution per unit from 7.99 Singapore cents to 8.11 Singapore cents on a pro forma basis.

The acquisition will be partly funded by proceeds to be raised from a private placement of at least 100 million Singapore dollars that was launched on Monday. The balance will be funded by debt. Ascott will issue 94.8 million new units at an estimated price of 1.055 Singapore dollars per unit and 1.085 Singapore dollars per unit.

Tat Hong Holdings soared 29.6 percent to 63.5 Singapore cents. It announced that it has been approached in connection with a potential transaction which may or may not lead to an acquisition of the issued share capital of the company. Discussions are preliminary.

Among the top gainers, Singapore Airlines rose 0.5 percent to 11.41 Singapore dollars, whereas Jardine Cycle and Carriage became one of the top losers by falling 2.5 percent to 39 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.38 Singapore dollars) Endit