Singapore share prices closed 0.21 percent higher on Wednesday, helped by strong overnight gains on Wall Street after oil prices retreated from historic highs above 60 dollars a barrel, dealers said. Investors remained cautious, however, amid expectations oil prices would resume their uptrend due to continued strong global energy demand.
The Straits Times Index added 4.66 points to 2,202.27 on volume of 573 million shares worth 623 million Singapore dollars (371 million US), from 556 million shares valued at 730 million dollars on Tuesday.
Losers led gainers 230 to 179, with 790 stocks unchanged.
"We saw late selling in selected blue chips and banks after strong gains in earlier trade, as investors were still concerned over oil prices rising again," a dealer with a local brokerage said.
Blue chip stocks were mostly lower, with Singapore Airlines down 10 cents to 11.20, Singapore Press Holdings off six cents to 4.30 and ST Engineering flat at 2.50.
Singapore Telecommunications sustained its gains and closed two cents higher at 2.73 on hopes of a higher dividend payout.
Banking stocks closed mostly flat, with United Overseas Bank and DBS unchanged at 14.20 and 14.10, respectively, while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp rose 10 cents to 11.40.
Creative Technology was down 20 cents to 11.10 after the company warned on Tuesday it would likely incur an operating loss in its fourth quarter to June results due to sluggish sales of its MP3 players.
Other technology stocks were steady, with UTAC unmoved at 66 cents, Chartered Semiconductor at 1.31, STATS ChipPAC at 1.19 and Venture Corp at 15.80.
Property stocks were also mostly flat, with CapitaLand unchanged at 2.34 and City Developments steady at 7.55. Keppel Land, however, climbed six cents to 2.55.