Singapore shares close just 5.5 points up

WALL Street's all-time high on Monday made for a firm opening here on Tuesday. But the reversal, when it came, was perhaps not a surprise given that observers are now convinced that the new US anti-trade administration will not be good for Asia.

So it was that after rising to an intraday high of 2,839, the Straits Times Index settled back to 2,822.2 for a net rise of just 5.53 points. The Dow futures, in the meantime, traded around 60 points higher.

The consolation - if it can be called that - was that volume remained above the S$1 billion mark at 2.4 billion units worth S$1.6 billion. Excluding warrants there were 235 rises versus 196 falls.