Singapore stocks close higher amid eased concern over interest rate hike in U.S.

Singapore shares closed 0.08 percent higher on Thursday, buoyed by the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes last month that eased concerns over interest rate hike in the near future.

U.S. stocks rose after the Federal Reserve minutes revealed that policy makers were not in a hurry to raise interest rates amid on-going concerns about slowing growth abroad. This further eliminates the probability of an April rate hike and lowers the probability of a June rate hike.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index inched up 2.34 points to 2,813.59 points. Trading volume was 1.27 billion shares worth 879 million Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 202 to 182, while 531 stocks did not move.

OCBC Bank rose 1.1 percent to 8.81 Singapore dollars. It announced that its wholly-owned private banking subsidiary, Bank of Singapore, has entered into an agreement to acquire the Wealth and Investment Management (VIM) business of Barclays Bank PLC in Singapore and Hong Kong.

The purchase price is set at 1.75 percent of Barclays WIM Singapore and Hong Kong's assets under management (AUM) that are transferred to Bank of Singapore upon the completion of the transaction. Based on Barclays WIM Singapore and Hong Kong's AUM of 18.3 billion U.S. dollars at December 31 last year, the indicative purchase price is 320 million U.S. dollars.

Keppel Corporation advanced 1.2 percent to 5.74 Singapore dollars. Its Brazilian yard, BrasFELS, has clinched a floating production, storage and offloading module fabrication and integration project worth approximately 190 million Singapore dollars from its long-standing customer, MODEC Offshore Production Systems. Completion is expected in third quarter of 2017.

Among the top gainers, Jardine Matheson rose 4.1 percent to 59.28 Singapore dollars, whereas Singapore Post Limited became one of the top losers by falling 3.4 percent to 1.57 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.35 Singapore dollars) Enditem