Singapore shares close flat after early jump fizzles out

BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED China manufacturing numbers on Tuesday helped lift sentiment throughout the region, adding about 19 points to the Straits Times Index at 2,832 during the morning session.

By 5pm, however, the index's gain had been whittled down to a net loss of 0.18 point at 2,813.69, possibly in anticipation of a weak Tuesday for Wall Street. The Dow futures rose 55 points in the morning and traded 20 points higher in the late evening.

Turnover here was a mediocre 1.3 billion units worth S$833 million on Tuesday, the 12th consecutive day that the dollar value fell below the S$1 billion level that is estimated to be the broking industry's breakeven point.

The average value traded was S$0.64 per unit and of the 20 most actively traded counters, 15 were priced below S$0.20.