Singapore shares ended mixed on Monday as light buying in blue chips such as conglomerate Keppel Corp, whose energy unit unveiled a bond issue to fund expansion plans, failed to overcome broader market weakness.
Dealers blamed sluggish market interest on a lack of fresh leads while others said some investors were sidelined ahead of a batch of key US economic data, including Friday's monthly jobs report.
The Straits Times index recovered from an intra-day low of 1,820.87 to end up 0.46 percent, or 8.43 points, at 1,835.54. It has risen four percent since the start of the year.
"We are still looking at the index heading towards the support level of 1,750 over the next four weeks," said Johnson Yuen, technical analyst at DBS Vickers Securities. "Because of general weak sentiment, volume has not been very healthy too."
In the broader market, losers led gainers 175 to 125 as share turnover dwindled to about 435 million shares from Friday's 537 million.
"There's no strong compelling reason for people to be too bullish at this point in time," said Chan Tuck Sing, a director at Singapore brokerage UOB Kay Hian.
"There was some net inflow of funds last week into blue chips but, be it traders or institutions, it's pretty quiet today."
Keppel Corp gained 2.88 percent to S$7.15 after its 49 percent-owned unit Singapore Petroleum said it would issue five-year convertible bonds worth US $184.4 million to fund its expansion.
Shares in SPC hit S$2.78 before easing to settle up 4.15 percent at S$2.76.
Analysts said the group needed to raise money after agreeing to buy British Petroleum Plc's refining assets in Singapore for $140 million.
"The bond issue is a good, low-cost way of raising money," said Choo Tse Wei, analyst at Kim Eng Ong Asia Securities, which initiated coverage of the stock earlier this month.
Choo, who had a "market perform" on SPC, said the firm was also eyeing BP's retail service stations on the island.
DBS Group rose 2.17 percent to S$14.10 but United Overseas Bank ended flat at S$13.20.
OCBC rose 0.84 percent to S$12.00.
Panpac Media was the fourth-most actively traded stock, climbing 6.25 percent to 8.5 Singapore cents on brisk trade of nearly 13 million shares.
The magazine publisher said it planned to place 10 million new shares with Sun Media Investment Holdings, an unlisted media group in China, with an option for the latter to subscribe for more shares.
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