Singapore share prices closed flat on Tuesday as Wall Street's lacklustre performance gave investors an excuse to cash in on the market's recent record-breaking run, dealers said. The Straits Times Index eased 0.07 points to 3,223.25 just off its new record closing high of 3,223.32 on Monday.
Volume traded was 2.12 billion shares worth 1.90 billion Singapore dollars (1.24 US). There were 402 risers, 345 decliners and 627 unchanged issues. Dealers said although the market was soft, the overall upward momentum remains intact on anticipation of further strong corporate earnings as well as the possibility of a corporate tax cut.
"If companies are making good profits in a rising economy, it should create quite a positive outlook for stocks," a dealer with a local brokerage said. Losers among blue chips include Singapore Telecommunications which eased 0.08 to 3.52, United Overseas Bank which fell 0.30 to 19.90 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp which dropped 0.05 to 8.45.
Singapore Airlines climbed 0.20 to 17.70, while ST Engineering and banking group DBS were both unchanged at 3.38. Singapore Post slipped 0.02 to 1.20 after the government announced it will fully liberalise the postal services sector starting April, marking the end of the firm's monopoly.
Among property stocks, Keppel Land rose 0.25 to 8.00 and City Developments was up 0.40 at 14.60 and CapitaLand held steady at 7.00. Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL) extended gains for a second consecutive day after Swiss bank Credit Suisse upgraded the shipping firm to "outperform" from "neutral". NOL closed up 0.32 to 2.98, after hitting a 52-week high of 3.02 earlier.
Shipyards also had a good day, with Cosco Corp (Singapore) rising 0.10 to 2.93 on hopes that it will report Monday higher earnings for the fourth quarter of last year. SembCorp Marine added 0.08 to 3.66 and Keppel Corp put on 0.10 to 19.20.