Singapore shares close down 0.23% on Wednesday

SINGAPORE shares were down on Wednesday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index lower by 8.3 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 3,541.91.

About 2.12 billion shares changed hands across the bourse, for a value of S$1.42 billion in all, but losers beat out gainers 256 to 198.

Among the blue-chips pulling down the index was Thai Beverage, which shed S$0.02, or 2.13 per cent, to S$0.92 on a volume of a whopping 71.9 million shares.

Another heavyweight loser was telco Singtel, which lost S$0.02, or 0.55 per cent, to S$3.59.

The counter saw a turnover of 21.3 million shares for the day.

But bourse operator Singapore Exchange bucked the trend.

It added S$0.21, or 2.77 per cent, to S$7.78.

Off the index, manufacturer JEP Holdings topped the actives list once again, with almost 140.1 million shares traded.

It put on 0.8 Singapore cent, or 13.3 per cent, to 6.8 Singapore cents, after UMS Holdings said it had bought a 7.48 per cent stake in JEP for S$5.7 million.

The mainboard-listed UMS, a precision engineering group, dipped by S$0.01, or 0.96 per cent, to S$1.03 on a volume of 1.7 million shares.