Singapore shares close broadly weak; STI ends in the black thanks to Singtel

A LARGE jump in Singtel's shares helped the Straits Times Index post a 4.03- point rise to 2,843.72 on Thursday in a session where the broad market weakened, recording 179 rises versus 237 falls.

Volume amounted to 1.3 billion units worth S$1.2 billion.

Singtel had been weak over the past few sessions so it came as no surprise that it was the index's biggest positive contributor. Its S$0.11 or 3 per cent rise to S$3.73 on volume of 58.2 million accounted for 9.3 points.

A fall in oil prices overnight brought slight pressure to bear on oil and gas stocks, led by Keppel Corp, Sembcorp Marine, Ezra and Ezion.