Singapore shares higher

Singapore shares closed 0.64 percent higher Tuesday with strong buying interest in commodity-related stocks, dealers said. The blue chip Straits Times Index rose 16.96 points to 2,660.91. Volume totalled 2.65 billion shares worth 1.97 billion Singapore dollars (1.37 billion US). There were 341 rising issues, 216 losers while 700 were even.
"The easy part of the money-making has been done and now the market is consolidating in a narrow range," said a dealer at a local brokerage. Commodity-linked stocks were among the winners, spurred by gold's bounce to above 1,000 US dollars an ounce Tuesday, dealers said.
Olam International, an agricultural trading firm, closed five cents higher at 2.36 dollars while Noble Group, a commodities firm, was 14 cents firmer at 2.28 dollars. For the blue chips, Singapore Airlines added four cents to 13.14 dollars and Singapore Telecom was down six cents at 3.23 while property developer CapitaLand gained three cents to 3.87 dollars.