Singapore shares closed very slightly higher on Monday as bargain hunting in select index-heavy blue chips reversed a five-day decline, although oil prices kept overall sentiment depressed.
The Straits Times Index finished up 4.72 points or 0.25 percent at 1,877.60, off an early low of 1,870.30, but still far from a 3-1/2-year peak of 1,942.80 hit on August 5.
Reflecting the weak broader market sentiment, losers outnumbered gainers 228 to 72 in a low turnover of 187 million shares.
With oil prices hitting fresh highs almost on a daily basis and top technology names predicting a gloomy outlook for the sector, the market has turned cautious about the health of the global economy and its likely impact on export-driven Singapore.
"The market moves at the moment are a function of what's happening with oil prices," said Gabriel Yap, senior vice president at Kim Eng Securities.
Oil hit a record of US $46.91 a barrel in Asian trading of New York Mercantile Exchange futures, triggering falls on many stock markets in the region. Tokyo's Nikkei average hit a three-month low, before parring losses to end 0.65 percent down.
The gainers in Singapore were led by Singapore Telecom which rose 1.8 percent to S$2.25. DBS Group Holdings was up 1.32 percent, to S$15.40, from its lowest close in over two weeks and OCBC was up 0.76 percent to S$13.20.
City Developments rose 1.71 percent to S$5.95, as it resumed trade on Monday.
Trading in CityDev was suspended on Friday afternoon before it announced that its British unit, Millennium and Copthrone Hotels Plc (M&C), had sold The Plaza, New York and the adjoining property for $675 million.
It also reported a more than doubling of its quarterly profits, thanks to improving global hotel operations and a buoyant local economy.
CityDev, controlled by tycoon Kwek Leng Beng and which owns 52.6 percent of British-based hotels group M&C, said the remaining two quarters of the year would be boosted by the sale of the group's New York hotel.
But that failed to impress analysts such as J.P. Morgan's Christopher Gee who maintained his "underweight" recommendation for the stock saying the second quarter results were some 28 percent below expectations. NatSteel Ltd, Singapore's lone steel miller, said it would sell its local and regional steel businesses to Tata Iron and Steel Co Ltd, India's No 2 steel maker, for S$486.4 million.
NatSteel stock, which was suspended from trade on Monday, closed at S$2.34 on Friday, up 6.4 percent from the start of the year, and slightly better than the 6.14 percent rise in the key Straits Times index (STI) during the same period.
A surprising rise in Singapore's retail sales in June had little impact on the market, as analysts warned higher oil prices could begin to dampen sales in coming months.
Singapore Airlines fell, given oil makes up a fifth of its total cost, almost a percent to S$10.50.
Analysts say higher oil prices tend to cut into consumer spending and corporate profits, fuel inflation and drive interest rates higher.
Investors fear that if oil prices stay high they could affect global demand and hurt Asia's export-driven economies such as Singapore.