Singapore shares ended slightly higher on Tuesday, helped by gains in recently battered Singapore Telecommunications and Venture Corp. The Straits Times Index ended up 1.55 points, or 0.08 percent, at 2,011.51. The index hit an intra day high of 2,020.43. In the broader market, gainers led losers 195 to 162 in turnover of 656 million shares, against 671 million on Monday.
SingTel rose 0.9 percent to S$2.32 after sharp losses since Friday when its majority stake-holder, Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, said it sold S$800 million of its stock at S$2.36 - a 3.7 percent discount to the market price.
SingTel was still down 6.8 percent from a 43-month intraday high of S$2.49 hit on Thursday. After trading hours, SingTel announced that it has signed a 3-year deal with with German premium carmaker BMW to provide, manage and support the company's telecommunications network in the Asia-Pacific and back to Munich.
Bargain-hunting also helped Venture that rose 2 percent to S$15.30. Venture had been on a decline after it posted a worse-than-expected 27 percent fall in quarterly profit following trading hours on Friday.
Jonathan NG, analyst at GK Goh Research, said despite Venture's weak earnings, he was positive on the company's long-term prospects.
Southeast Asia's largest logistics group, SembCorp Logistics Ltd (SembLog), rose 1.7 percent to S$2.40 before it announced a 15 percent rise in net profit over the third quarter, buoyed by growing Asian trade.
The firm, 62 percent-owned by Singapore's fourth-largest conglomerate SembCorp Industries Ltd, earned a S$27.1 million net profit in the three months to September 30, against S$23.6 million a year earlier.
SembLog's sister firm and Southeast Asia's largest shipyard operator, SembCorp Marine Ltd rose 3.7 percent to S$1.13 after Daiwa Institute of Research raised its price target for the firm to S$1.18 from S$1.13 in view of better growth prospects.
SembMarine last Friday reported a 15-percent jump in third-quarter profit to S$21.8 million, as high oil prices and the regional export boom fuelled demand for ship-repair and oil-rig conversion services.
OCBC Bank and property firm City Developments will announce their third-quarter profits on Wednesday.
Dealers said many investors were reluctant to build fresh positions due to a shorter week. With the market closed on Thursday for a local holiday, several company results have been crammed into Wednesday and Friday, raising worries about volatile trading.
They said overseas markets were also mixed ahead of an expected interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. Higher interest rates tend to cut corporate profits by pushing up the cost of funding.