Singapore shares close higher but in low volume

VOLUME last Friday surged to S$1.5 billion from a Monday-Thursday average of S$1 billion but there was no follow-through on Monday, with turnover dropping back to just 1.9 billion units worth S$765 million - the lowest dollar value in about three weeks.

As for the Straits Times Index (STI), it spent the day tracking movements in the Dow futures - which rose 70 points at 5pm - and the Hang Seng Index, the latter rising in anticipation of China "A" shares being included in MSCI emerging market indices this week.

As a result, the STI finished 15.74 points higher at 3,247.18. Excluding warrants there were 274 rises versus 160 falls.

For the umpteenth time this year, banks were the STI's main drivers, gains in UOB and DBS adding a total of nine points to the index.