Share prices closed 0.15 percent lower on Wednesday in a late burst of profit-taking by investors who saw strong corporate earnings results as a cue to cash in gains, dealers said. The Straits Times Index fell 4.70 points to 3,125.56.
Trading volume was 2.18 billion shares worth 2.09 billion Singapore dollars (1.36 billion US). There were 257 risers, 483 decliners and 651 unchanged issues. "People who do short-term trading are taking profits," Fraser Securities research head Najeeb Jarhom said.
Dealers said they expect further positive corporate results and pro-market measures in Singapore's upcoming budget to sustain the broad market uptrend before a correction after the Lunar New Year. "The market has peaked for now, though we could still reach the 3,150-3,200 points range next month before Chinese New Year," Jarhom added.
Property counters led the losers, with Keppel Land falling 0.20 to 7.50 and CapitaLand down 0.10 at 6.70. City Developments added 0.10 to 14.0. Blue chips were mixed, with ST Engineering down 0.06 at 3.34, Singapore Telecommunications up 0.04 at 3.50 and Singapore Airlines rising 0.20 to 17.60. Technology stocks were also mixed. Creative Technology fell 0.20 to 10.50, erasing earlier gains on its second quarter results. Chartered Semiconductor rose 0.02 to 1.40, extending gains on expectations of stronger earnings this year.
Among banks, DBS Group Holdings was flat at 22.00. United Overseas Bank slipped 0.10 at 18.90 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp held steady at 7.90. Shipyards were higher on earnings hopes. SembCorp Marine was up 0.02 at 3.38, Cosco Corp (Singapore) added 0.02 to 2.70 and Keppel Corp rose 0.30 at 17.90, after reporting strong results last year. Meanwhile, construction stocks were lacklustre as woes over the impact of rising sand prices continued to loom, dealers said.
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