Singapore shares closed 1.05 percent higher on Thursday on gains in selected blue chips, dealers said. The Straits Times Index advanced 27.75 points to 2,678.23. Volume totalled 2.71 billion shares worth 2.35 billion Singapore dollars (1.65 billion US) and there were 291 rising issues, 239 losers while 718 issues were even.
In the short-term, analysts said they do not see the index breaching 2,700 points because there was "no convincing story yet" to push investor appetite. Among blue chips, Singapore Airlines was steady at 12.98 dollars, Keppel Corp put on 24 cents to 7.91 and Singapore Telecommunications was one cent higher at 3.18. For the banks, DBS gained 14 cents to 13.04, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was three cents higher at 7.88 while United Overseas Bank rose four cents to 17.14.