Singapore shares closed slightly firmer on Tuesday on interest in selected blue chips, boosted by gains in oil and gas-related stocks as oil prices continued to climb towards 60 dollars a barrel, dealers said. The Straits Times Index rose 1.45 points to 2,222.61, off an intraday high of 2,230.40 and a low of 2,221.00. Volume was 663 million shares worth 629 million Singapore dollars (372 million US), up from 540 million shares valued at 466 million dollars on Monday.
Gainers led losers 257 to 177, with 775 stocks unchanged.
"The clear theme in the local market is that oil and gas related stocks are likely to continue to see good gains," OCBC Investment Research said in a note.
"With oil prices staying just a shade below the 60 US-dollar mark, this will continue to drive interest in the oil and gas-related stocks," it said.
Among oil and gas plays, KS Energy climbed 13 cents to 2.23 dollars and SembCorp Marine gained three cents to 2.64.
City Developments continued former, adding 15 cents to 8.00 dollars after it announced last week it would sell 11 of its office buildings and commercial properties to Suntec REIT for 788 million dollars.
Among other property stocks, CapitaLand dropped two cents to 2.34 dollars, Keppel Land was up two cents to 2.55, Suntec REIT rose a cent to 1.23 and Wing Tai climbed three cents to 1.03.
Bank stocks were flat to lower, with DBS losing 10 cents to 14.10 dollars while United Overseas Bank and Oversea Chinese Banking Corp were flat at 14.40 and 11.60 respectively.
Among tech stocks, Venture Corp was unchanged at 16.20 dollars, Chartered Semiconductor was two cents stronger at 1.33 and Creative Technology was flat at 11.20.
For the other blue chips, Singapore Telecommunications inched one cent higher to 2.75 dollars, Singapore Airlines lost 10 cents to 11.30, ST Engineering rose one cent to 2.48 and Singapore Press Holdings gained six cents to 4.42.
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