Singapore: STI ends slide to gain 0.8% ahead of Fed statement

SINGAPORE shares reversed a two-day slide to close 0.8 per cent higher on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index up 27.82 points to 3,325.91 ahead of an overnight statement from the US Federal Reserve.

About 1.38 billion shares worth S$1.27 billion in total changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of S$0.92 per share.

DBS Group Holdings led the banks higher with a gain of 1.2 per cent, or S$0.24, to close at S$20.78.

The most actively traded stock was Noble Group, which fell S$0.005 to S$0.715 with 73.5 million shares changing hands in the wake of a downgrade from Goldman Sachs and a rebuttal from the company against recent criticism of its accounting practices.

Gainers outnumbered losers 288 to 137, or about two up for every one down.