Singapore shares decline

Singapore share prices closed 0.20 percent lower on Wednesday on losses in property and technology stocks, dealers said. The Straits Times Index fell 4.66 points to 2,301.84. Volume was 975 million shares valued at 861 million Singapore dollars (509 million US), down from 1.03 billion shares worth 844 million Singapore dollars on Tuesday.
Losers beat gainers 348 to 144 and 930 stocks were unchanged. DBS Vickers, in its regional equity strategy report, said despite the decline on Wednesday, the stock market remains buoyant given the island-state's robust economic growth prospects this year.
"We see opportunities for buying into weakness over the coming month," it said.
DBS has an "overweight" rating on banking, property, electronics, industrials and small-capitalised stocks.
DBS maintained its "overweight" rating on Singapore while raising its economic growth estimate for this year to 4.7 percent from 4.2 percent.
Technology shares were mostly lower led by STATS ChipPac which fell four cents to 1.04 dollars.
Chartered Semiconductor dipped three cents to 1.14, Datacraft shed one US cent to 97 US cents while Venture was flat at 14.70 and Creative Technology unchanged at 12.90.
Property firms were flat to lower ahead of the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) third quarter estimate for private residential prices scheduled for release on October 1, dealers said.
CapitaLand closed unchanged at 3.14 dollars and Keppel Land dropped six cents at 3.62. Singapore Land dipped 10 cents to 5.40 and City Developments ended flat at 9.25.
Singapore Telecommunications fell one cent to 2.44, Singapore Airlines dropped 20 cents to 11.60 and ST Engineering shed three cents to 2.55. Singapore Press Holdings was steady at 4.64.
Banks were all steady with DBS at 15.90, UOB at 14.10, and OCBC at 6.25.
Among oil-related stocks, shipyard operators Keppel Corp and SembCorp Marine came under pressure due to a Business Times report that the two companies could face a slowdown in orders amid competition from foreign rivals.
SembCorp Marine shed 14 cents to 3.02 while Keppel Corp ended flat at 12.60.