SINGAPORE, (PNA/Xinhua) — Singapore shares closed 1.9 percent higher on Monday, after Lawrence Summers dropped from the race to be head of the U.S. Federal Reserve, while progress on Syria also shored up risk appetite.
Lawrence Summers had been tipped to be President Barack Obama’s first choice to succeed Ben Bernanke as the Federal Reserve chairman, and many investors had considered him to be a candidate that was more likely to curtail the central bank’s aggressive moves to stimulate the economy. Investors took comfort from the likelihood that U.S. monetary policy would stay loose for longer should the other leading candidate, Janet Yellen, get the job.
Sentiment was further helped by Saturday’s deal between Russia and the United States to demand that Syrian President Bashar al- Assad account for his chemical arsenal within a week and let international inspectors eliminate all the weapons by the middle of next year.
Voyager Research said the index may consolidate around current levels support established at 3100.
The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 59.18 points to close at 3,179.48 points. Trading volume was 3.6 billion shares worth 1.72 billion Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 329 to 176, while 484 stocks closed unchanged.
Datapulse Technology jumped 6.4 percent to 25 Singapore cents. The CD and DVD service firm is proposing a capital reduction exercise that will see the firm’s shareholders receiving a cash distribution of 3.5 cents per share. According to the company, there will be no share cancellation or change in the number of shares held by shareholders.
Mermaid Maritime rose 1.7 percent to 30 Singapore cents. It has been awarded an initial of two years contract, with a one year option, to provide offshore Inspection, Repair and Maintenance services to a major Indonesian based upstream oil and gas operator. The estimated contract value for the initial term is 55 million U. S. dollars.
Federal International surged 8 percent to 2.7 Singapore cents. It is acquiring a land drilling rig for 10.4 million U.S. dollars, to be satisfied by cash of 7.7 million U.S. dollars and the balance of 2.7 million U.S. dollars through the issue of new shares at an issue price of 10 Singapore cents per share.
Among the top gainers, Jardine Matheson rose 1.9 percent to 55. 30 U.S. dollars, while STXPO became one of the top losers by dropping 4.8 percent to 2.99 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.26 Singapore dollars).