Singapore shares close down 0.2% on Thursday

SINGAPORE - Thursday proved glum for equities here, as Thanksgiving lethargy in the West extended across the Pacific.

Small pops of optimism - on the back of the morning's strong growth figures and the afternoon's muted inflation data - failed to save the local bourse.

The benchmark Straits Times Index dipped by 6.85 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 3,423.17, after finishing the day before at its highest since May 2015.

More than 2.63 billion shares changed hands, but on value of just S$976.9 million, with losers outnumbering gainers 311 to 143.

Singtel, lauded in a morning report from OCBC Investment Research as the bright spot in a muted telecom sector, stayed flat at S$3.70.

Bourse operator SGX also closed unchanged, at S$7.50, in spite of taking home the "Exchange of the Year Asia" title for Asian commodities from Energy Risk magazine.

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