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Singapore stocks end up 0.11 pct

Xinhua, May 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Singapore shares closed 0.11 percent higher on Monday, buoyed by rising U.S. markets last Friday.

Investors will wait for clues about possible interest rate hike next month from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech at a panel event hosted by Harvard University on Friday. Other Federal Reserve officials are also slated to speak earlier in the week.

Citigroup Research said the Straits Times Index is the weakest market in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, down about 2 percent year-to-date, so Citigroup remains defensive in its stock picks and is wary of a turning credit cycle and risks to asset quality.

DBS Group Research said "we keep our short-term view for the Straits Times Index to range from 2,700 points to 2,835 points as rebound upside is cap by U.S. rate hike concerns, June 23 BREXIT referendum, weak corporate earnings and a slow economic outlook."

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index inched up 3.11 points to 2,766.93 points. Trading volume was 1.02 billion shares worth 690 million Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 197 to 193, while 521 stocks did not move. Manulife US REIT closed flat at 79 Singapore cents. The REIT, which raised 470 million U.S. dollars, is Singapore's first big initial public offering in nearly two years. It said that its offering to institutional as well as retail investors were oversubscribed and about 42.6 million shares were traded on its maiden trading day on Friday when the units closed at 79 U.S. cents, lower than the initial public offering price of 83 U.S. cents.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding closed flat at 90.5 Singapore cents. The Singapore-listed Chinese shipbuilder announced it will acquire the 40 percent of shares it does not already own in CS Marine Technology in Singapore for 1 U.S. dollar, without specifying debt, valuing CS Marine's net assets as 1.7 million U.S. dollars. Yangzijiang said the purchase was in order to tap CS Marine's client base and add engineering and design capability to its existing operations.

Among top gainers, City Development Limited rose 1.5 percent to 8.30 Singapore dollars, while Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by falling 0.4 percent to 53.48 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.38 Singapore dollars) Endit