Singapore shares close 0.4% up on Wednesday

SHARE prices in the Singapore bourse closed higher for the fifth straight day with the key Straits Times Index finishing at 3,479.76 - up 13.4 points or 0.4 per cent.

The gains in the local bourse come ahead of the release of minutes of the US central bank's March policy meeting and inflation data out of the US and were led by a strong overnight showing on Wall Street.

Risk sentiment has improved as tensions over a trade war eased with reconciliatory tones from both the US and China. China's President Xi Jinping's speech on Tuesday had focussed on opening up the world's second-largest economy, steering away from trade-war tensions, while US President Donald Trump had, in turn, returned praises.

Yet, IG Markets' Jingyi Pan said that there remained "a whole lot (more) to consider in this US-China trade conflict".

Turnover came in at 1.6 billion shares worth S$1.2 billion versus Tuesday's 2.1 billion shares worth S$1.4 billion. Gainers outnumbered losers with 249 counters up and 189 counters down.