Singapore shares close slightly firmer

Singapore share prices closed 0.48 percent higher on Tuesday, led by the majors including Singapore Telecommunications and DBS banking group, dealers said. The Straits Times Index rose 11.41 points to 2,377.13. Volume traded totalled 1.2 million shares worth 1.3 billion Singapore dollars (783 million US), up from 907 million shares worth 1.18 billion dollars on Monday.
There were 329 rising issues, 205 losers and 466 issues were even.
The market's ascendancy Tuesday marked sixth straight trading sessions of gains but dealers said the time was now ripe for profit-taking with the main index likely to hold at 2,350 points.
"Towards the end of this week, there could be profit-taking," said a dealer.
"We see the market holding at the 2,350 level... already, the property sector is succumbing to profit-taking, with money flowing to cheaper stocks."
Singapore Telecommunications were among the leading stocks to finish higher as the phone company, the largest in Southeast Asia, closed three cents up at 2.83 dollars.
It is due to release its June quarter results on Thursday and analysts are predicting net profit of 680 million dollars to 1.4 billion dollars for the June quarter compared to 700 million dollars a year ago.
Among the other blue chips, Singapore Airlines fell 10 cents to 11.60 dollars while Singapore Press rose six cents to 4.66 dollars.
In the banking sector, DBS rose 20 cents to 16.80 after Merrill Lynch maintained its "buy" recommendation on the stock, citing the lender's strong operations.
United Overseas Bank was steady at 14.80 dollars and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was flat at 12.90 dollars.
In the property sector, most leading developers succumbed to profit-taking after recent gains.
CapitaLand dropped seven cents to 2.95 dollars, Wing Tai dipped one cent to 1.25 dollars and Allgreen fell two cents to 1.30 dollars.
In the technology sector, Chartered Semiconductor gained four cents to 1.31 dollars, Creative Technology increased 90 cents to 13.20, while Datacraft added one US cent to 1.11 US dollars.