Singapore's key share index rose about three-fourth of a percent on Tuesday to its highest close in about a week, on bargain hunting in select blue chips ahead of their second-quarter results. The Straits Times Index rose 13.1 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,869.08 points, a day after hitting an 11-month intraday low of 1,842.37.
In the broader market, gainers led losers 221 to 120 in relatively low volume of 478 million shares.
Dealers said the index was buoyed on buying in blue chips including Singapore Airlines, DBS Group and United Overseas Bank ahead of their results due on Friday.
DBS Group was among the top gainers, rising 30 Singapore cents, or two percent, to S$15.30.
That helped recently battered technology stocks. Chartered Semiconductor, the top volume leader, leapt two percent to S$1.05. It had hit a low of S$1.02 early on.
Shares of Chartered, the world's third-largest supplier of custom-made microchips, had taken a beating in recent sessions, hitting their lowest since August, as analysts downgraded them after the company warned of weak third-quarter sales.
On Monday, BNP Paribas Peregrine cut the stock to "under-perform" from "out-perform", while ABN Amro Research reduced its investment rating to "sell" from "add", with a share price target of S$0.83 against S$1.70 previously.
Among the big losers Keppel Corporation Ltd, Singapore's second-largest conglomerate, fell 1.36 percent to S$7.25. Keppel Corp is due to announce its second quarter earnings on Thursday.
Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), ended 1.72 percent down to S$2.29. After close of trade NOL, the world's seventh-largest shipping group, announced that it had doubled its second-quarter profit as it shifted more cargo at firmer rates.
NOL earned US $186 million in the three months to June 25, up 172 percent from $68.5 million in the year-earlier period. Revenues rose 12 percent to $1.45 billion.
The results were better than the expectations of five analysts polled by Reuters, who on average had forecast a $162 million net profit.
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