Singapore share prices are expected to rise further next week ahead of the May 6 general elections in which the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) is widely predicted to maintain its dominance, dealers said.
Easing oil prices and should also help lift the bourse, but profit-taking could cap gains, they added.
The Straits Times Index (STI) reached a new record close of 2,610.71, off an all-time intraday high of 2,620.35 on Friday after Southeast Asia's biggest lender DBS Group reported healthy first quarter net profit.
The STI was up 7.26 points, or 0.27 percent, from the previous week.
Singaporean voters go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new parliament. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who succeeded Goh Chok Tong in 2004, is leading the PAP for the first time in the polls as premier.
Although three opposition political parties are contesting more than half of the 84 parliamentary seats at stake, observers say the PAP - which controlled all but two seats in the outgoing legislature - should win overwhelmingly.
"I want a world-class opposition, not a riff-raff," Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew said late Friday, adding he expected the opposition to win only one seat this time.
For the week ended April 28, average volume traded totalled 1.5 billion shares worth 1.4 billion Singapore dollars (886 million US), compared with 2.16 billion shares valued at 1.49 billion Singapore dollars the previous week.
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