Singapore shares close broadly mixed; banks push STI up

A CONTINUED push on the banks helped add 6.07 points to the Straits Times Index (STI) at 2,949.12, though volume continued to dwindle and the broad market ended mixed.

A new all-time high for Wall Street on Monday helped prop up sentiment, at least as far as the index was concerned. As for the rest of the market, the advance-decline score of 218-209 pointed to a broadly even finish rather than firm.

Turnover amounted to 1.75 billion units worth S$1.1 billion, more in line with pre-US election totals than the S$1.3 billion average seen since Donald Trump won on Nov 8. Of the total dollar value done, S$817 million or 74 per cent came from trading in the 30 STI components.

Trading in DBS contributed the most towards value, the stock's S$0.19 rise to S$18.16 on volume of 8.7 million was worth S$157.5 million. UOB's trades were worth S$66.3m and OCBC's S$71 million. In total, trading in the three banks accounted for S$295 million or 27 per cent of the entire market's dollar business.