Singapore shares closed 0.80 percent higher on Wednesday with sentiment buoyed by Wall Street's gains on news of billionaire Warren Buffett's rescue plan for troubled US bond insurers, dealers said. The blue chip Straits Times index closed 23.31 points higher at 2,949.54 on volume of 1.70 billion shares worth 1.80 billion Singapore dollars (1.27 billion US).
Rising shares led decliners 346 to 304 with 1,073 stocks unchanged. Buffett said he had offered a deal to three troubled bond insurers hard hit by a US mortgage and credit squeeze, whose fallout has rattled global markets. He said in a he had offered to reinsure up to 800 billion dollars in municipal bonds.
"His presence has somewhat reassured people at least for now - the smartest investor in the globe has shown his hand," said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist at CIMB-GK Research. Banking shares traded flat, with DBS Group up two cents at 16.80 Singapore dollars. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp fell three cents to 7.12.
United Overseas Bank was steady at 17.20. Property heavyweights rallied, with City Developments gaining 38 cents to 11.60, CapitaLand up 18 cents to 5.86 and Keppel Land rising 12 cents to 5.89. Bourse operator Singapore Exchange gained 23 cents to 9.07, Singapore Airlines was up four cents at 15.52, while Neptune Orient Lines dropped two cents to 3.29.