Singapore share prices closed flat on Thursday as investors sold selected blue chips late in the session, dealers said. But sentiment remained positive amid falling oil prices and hopes for strong third quarter company earnings results, they said.
The Straits Times Index fell 0.97 points to 2,640.64 on volume of 1.47 billion shares worth 1.17 billion Singapore dollars (737 million US). Gainers led losers 348 to 228 with 687 shares unchanged. Despite the short-term selling, dealers said the index was still on track to test its intra-day peak of 2,666.33 points reached on May 3.
Fraser Securities research head Najeeb Jarhom predicted the index will continue its uptrend until the end of the year. In a note to clients, DBS Vickers said the index may continue to weaken over the short term to find support between the 2,610-2,620 level.
"In the mid-term, we expect our market to continue its momentum up, testing its previous high at 2,666," DBS Vickers said. Blue chips were mostly lower, with Singapore Telecommunications down 0.01 at 2.46, ST Engineering down 0.01 at 2.96, and Singapore Press Holdings down 0.02 at 4.18 before it announced its year to August results.
DBS Group Holdings shed 0.20 to 20.10, while United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp were flat at 16.80 and 7.00 respectively. In the property sector, Keppel Land was down 0.20 at 5.05, City Developments dropped 0.20 to 10.90 and CapitaLand was flat at 5.10.
Bucking the market downtrend was Singapore Airlines, which rose 0.40 to 15.60, as it stands to benefit from lower fuel costs amid declining oil prices, which on Thursday fell below 58 US dollars a barrel to their lowest point this year.
Technology stocks rose on expectations of a seasonally stronger fourth quarter, with DBS Vickers upgrading its rating on the sector to "overweight" from "neutral." Creative Technology was up 0.20 at 10.80, STATS ChipPAC gained 0.01 at 0.97 and Venture Corp rose 0.10 to 13.10. Some rotational interest in China stocks also lent support to the broad market, dealers said.
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