Singapore shares close slightly higher; STI manages to stay in the black for 2016

MONDAY'S column highlighted the year's starting level for the Straits Times Index (STI) of 2,882 as presenting formidable resistance because the STI had not been able to stay above it for more than a few days on three occasions since the start of the year.

As it turned out, having once again broken above 2,882 on Tuesday and having managed to stay above it on Wednesday, the STI lost its grip on the level on Thursday when it dropped about 16 points to an intraday low of 2,878.

Gains in Hong Kong and the Dow futures and a firm opening for Europe helped the index recover in the afternoon and it finished with a net gain of 0.83 of a point at 2,894.48.

Turnover amounted to 1.5 billion units worth S$1 billion and, excluding warrants, there were 216 rises versus 172 falls.