Singapore share prices closed 1.48 percent higher on Thursday, edging closer to all-time highs, following the lead of Wall Street's Dow Jones share index which reached a new record level, dealers said.
The Straits Times index was up 38.56 points at 2,641.48, off its all-time record close of 2,659.85 reached on May 3. The volume was 1.61 billion shares worth 1.47 billion Singapore dollars (930 million US).
Gainers outdid losers 436 to 198 with 609 shares unchanged. "Today's gains are due to Wall Street, while regional bourses are also doing well too, so we are mainly just tracking these moves," a dealer with a local brokerage said.
Banks and property stocks lifted the benchmark index. DBS Group Holdings was up 0.60 at 20.40, United Overseas Bank rose 0.20 to 17.00 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp gained 0.05 to 6.90.
City Developments jumped 0.60 to 11.20, CapitaLand climbed 0.15 to 5.25 and Keppel Land put on 0.20 to 5.20. Among other blue chips, ST Engineering added 0.04 to 2.96 and Singapore Press Holdings gained 0.02 to 4.12. Singapore Telecommunications shed 0.01 to 2.40.
Singapore Airlines advanced 0.20 to 15.00, buoyed by expectations it will get compensation from aircraft manufacturer Airbus which has announced further delays in delivery of the A380 aircraft. Technology stocks also gained, with Chartered Semiconductor up 0.03 at 1.19, Creative Technology gaining 0.10 at 10.60, STATS ChipPAC up 0.005 at 0.940 and Venture Corp rising 0.50 to 13.00.
Keppel Corp was unchanged at 14.60.