Singapore shares close lower on selling technology stocks

Singapore shares slipped for a third straight day on Wednesday on selling of technology stocks, but OCBC Bank rose after unveiling a deal to buy out its insurance affiliate.
Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) also sailed higher after posting strong earnings.
The key Straits Times index finished down 0.54 percent or 10.13 points at 1,868.28, its third straight day of fall.
OCBC rose 0.8 percent to S$12.40 after the bank said it would offer 976 of its shares for every 1,000 shares in Great Eastern Holdings.
The move would create a financial services group with assets of S$113 billion, putting it on par with United Overseas Bank, the second-biggest local bank in terms of assets.
The rise in OCBC shares to an intra-day high of $12.50 values Great Eastern stock at $12.20 because of the share exchange terms in the proposed offer. Great Eastern shares sank 6.2 percent to S$12.20.
Some investors were less than enthusiastic.
"I'm not terribly excited by this deal. Everything still depends on how they grow their core business," said a fund manager of a Europe-based group, which owns shares of the bank.
Great Eastern investors were disappointed that there was no cash offer from OCBC and that the offer price did not come at a premium, dealers said.
NOL rose 1.4 percent to S$2.12 after the world's sixth-largest container shipping group reported a quarterly profit that beat market forecasts and said earnings would continue to rise as freight rates surged.
Its net profit rose to $134 million in its fourth-quarter to December 31, against a loss of $146 million a year earlier. Eight analysts polled by Reuters had expected NOL to earn $109 million for the quarter.
Datacraft Asia shed 0.76 percent to US $1.30 after the computer data network builder reported a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit despite aggressive cost cuts and a pickup in technology spending.
It posted a net profit of $57,000 for the three months ended December 31, versus a net loss of $2.53 million in the year-earlier quarter but net earnings fell significantly short of market forecasts. Three analysts polled by Reuters had expected the group to earn between $600,000 and $2.2 million.
In the broader market, losers led gainers 193 to 138 as volumes rose to 1.15 billion shares from Tuesday's 1.09 billion.