Singapore shares closed slightly higher on Thursday as blue chips such as United Overseas Bank (UOB) rose but activity was centred around new listings such as China Petrotech
Analysts say the rise was in anticipation of a rebound in Wall Street later on Thursday and in line with regional markets.
The key Straits Times index finished up 0.48 percent, or 8.67 points, at 1,828.79, its highest close since May 7.
But Timothy Wong, head of research at DBS Vickers Securities, said he expects levels to fall to 1,780 within a week or so.
"The market will find resistance in the 1,820-1,840 range," he said.
In the broader market, gainers edged out losers 148 to 135, as volume was steady at 449 million shares against 428 million on Wednesday.
UOB, Singapore's second-largest lender, rose 2.29 percent to S$13.40 and OCBC Bank Ltd also edged higher to 1.65 percent to S$12.20.
OCBC Bank's $500 million three-year floating rate note was priced at 12 basis points above three-month LIBOR, the issue's lead managers said on Thursday. The three-month US dollar London Interbank Offered Rate was at about 1.42 percent.
But banks, considered proxies to the economy and which account for close to 40 percent of the index's weighting ended mixed. DBS Group Holdings, Singapore's largest lender fell 1.35 percent to S$14.60.
Singapore Telecommunications rose 1.35 percent to S$2.26. Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency had earlier revised SingTel's Outlook to Positive from Stable.
China Petrotech, which debuted on Wednesday, surged 13.4 percent to 46.5 Singapore cents on purchases by funds, dealers said.
The provider of integrated IT solutions to oil and gas companies in China was the day's most active stock, clocking a volume of 45 million shares.
Gates Electronics, distributor of electronics components, failed to made an impact on its debut rising to just 20.5 Singapore cents compared with the issue price of 20 cents. Volume was a moderate 12 million shares.
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