Singapore shares ended up on Friday but were off early highs as Singapore Telecommunications fell after its majority stake-holder, Temasek Holdings, sold S$800 million of its stocks at a discount. The Straits Times Index ended up 5.12 points, or 0.25 percent, at 2,015.77 points. In the broader market, losers led gainers 188 to 180 in heavy volume of 955 million shares.
Early on, the index hit a high of 2,022.71, helped by a decline in oil prices to levels below $49 a barrel. That eased worries about the impact of high energy cost on corporate profits and consumer spending at home and abroad.
Cheaper oil helped economic growth-sensitive banking stocks such as DBS Group Holdings and OCBC Bank. OCBC is due to report its quarterly result on Wednesday.
But part of those gains were offset by losses in SingTel which fell as much as 4.9 percent to S$2.33, after Temasek said it had placed with institutional investors about 339 million of SingTel shares, below its closing price of S$2.45 on Thursday.
SingTel later settled at S$2.36. It was the most active stock, with 357 million shares changing hands.
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