Singapore share prices closed 0.79 percent higher Friday, driven mainly by buying in blue chip stocks, dealers said. They said institutional investors bought shares of market heavyweights such as Singapore Telecoms and Singapore Airlines largely on programme buying. The Straits Times Index rose 16.39 points to 2,089.51, while the broader All Singapore Equities index gained 4.34 points to 546.41. Volume was 972.87 million shares worth 667.48 Singapore dollars (417 million US), from 951 million shares worth 747 million Singapore dollars on Thursday.
Gainers led decliners 287 to 144, with 524 stocks unchanged.
SingTel, which has a subsidiary in Australia and stakes in mobile phone firms in the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Thailand, extended gains in afternoon trading, on hopes of more overseas acquisitions, dealers said.
SingTel shares ended the session up four Singapore cents to 2.53 Singapore dollars.
Other blue chips closed higher, with Singapore Press Holdings up two cents to 4.44 and Singapore Airlines adding 20 cents to finish at 11.80.
Among banking stocks, DBS gained 10 cents to 15.80, United Overseas Bank was 10 cents higher at 13.90 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp rose 10 cents to 13.60.
Chartered Semiconductor closed higher after it reported a narrower-than-estimated loss of 26.83 million US dollars in the fourth quarter to December. The stock closed 2.5 Singapore cents higher to 94 cents.