Singapore share prices closed 0.43 percent higher on Thursday as investors hunted for bargains in select blue chip stocks, dealers said.
The Straits Times Index rose 9.79 points to 2,306.31. Volume was 677 million shares valued at 628 million Singapore dollars (369 million US), down from 819 million shares worth 841 million dollars on Wednesday.
Gainers led losers 246 to 195 and 1,119 stocks were unchanged.
"Some of the blue chips are up due to follow-through bargain hunting," a dealer from a local brokerage house said.
Another dealer at a local brokerage said volume was thin with many investors staying on the sidelines as the US markets are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Among blue chips, ST Engineering was up three cents to 2.64 dollars. Singapore Telecommunications added a cent to 2.41, Singapore Press Holdings climbed six cents to 4.54 but Singapore Airlines fell 10 cents to 11.70.
Among the real estate investment trusts (REITs), Ascendas REIT jumped six cents to 1.99. CapitaCommercial was down two cents to 1.50 and CapitaMall was up two cents to 2.26.
Keppel Land advanced six cents to 3.82, CapitaLand added two cents to 3.32 and City Developments was steady at 8.50. Banks were mixed with DBS losing 10 cents to 16.20, United Overseas Bank up 10 cents at 14.60 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp unchanged at 6.55.
Technology stocks were mixed. Creative Technology gained 10 cents to 13.70, Chartered Semiconductor was flat at 1.20 and Venture Corp was off 10 cents at 13.30
Debutant ISDN Holdings, which provides engineering services to the semiconductor, manufacturing and hard disk drive industries, closed at 30 cents a share, above its initial public offering price of 29 cents.