Singapore shares ended slightly down on Friday, after hitting four-year highs in early trade, as investors cashed in recent gains in blue chips such as Keppel Corp and Venture Corp. The Straits Times Index ended down 1.18 points, or 0.06 percent, at 2,061.58. Overall, losers led gainers 185 to 180 in trade of 504 million shares.
Keppel Corp fell 2.35 percent to S$8.30, after hitting a two-week high of S$8.55 earlier. Venture fell 1.8 percent to S$16.00, after touching a one-week high of S$16.50.
The top loser was Hongkong Land, the largest landlord in Hong Kong's central business district, which fell about 6.6 percent to US $2.56.
Dealers said selling in Hongkong Land, that had hit a 3-year high of US $2.75 on Thursday, was sparked after a married deal of 136,000 shares was done at US $2.60.
The index in early trade rose to touch 2,076.59 points, a level not seen since September 2000, led by gains in technology stocks following a rally in their US peers overnight and an upbeat revenue outlook by the world's largest chip maker, Intel Corp.
The top percentage gainer was Creative Technology, which rose as much as 9 percent to S$24.00, its highest since March 2002, before ending at S$23.80 up more than 8 percent on the day.
Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust, a trust based on a Singapore shopping and office complex partly owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing, priced the city-state's largest flotation this year at S$1 per unit, to raise S$722 million.
Directory listings business Yellow Pages Singapore Pte. Ltd priced its initial public offering at S$1.66 a share to raise S$230 million. Suntec and Yellow Pages will make their market debut on Thursday.
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