Singapore shares closed 1.05 percent lower on Thursday, as Wall Street rise overnight failed to inspire investors to raise exposure to Singapore market. U.S. stocks rose amid positive corporate earnings and the upbeat economic assessment by the Federal Reserve.
In its statement after the policy meeting, the Federal Reserve said the U. S. labor and housing markets are improving.
The labor market " continued to improve with solid job gains and declining unemployment" while noting the housing sector "has shown additional improvement." The policy meeting maintained a near-zero benchmark interest rate as expected, and offered few clues on when to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index dropped 34.48 points to 3,249.52 points. Trading volume was 2.13 billion shares worth 1. 15 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 282 to 152, while 506 stocks did not move.
The Singapore Exchange Limited fell 2.4 percent to 8.03 Singapore dollars. The bourse operator announced its full year revenue was up 13 percent year-on-year to 778.9 million Singapore dollars while full year net profit was up 9 percent to 348.6 million Singapore dollars.
The results were attributed to growth in its derivatives business, but its securities business recorded lower volume, down 4 percent year-on-year to 1.1 billion Singapore dollars of daily average traded value.
YTL Starhill Global REIT rose 0.6 percent to 85.5 Singapore cents. It announced it is in the process of changing its financial year end to June. Its six-quarter distribution per unit was up 3.2 percent on the corresponding period last year to 1.29 Singapore cents.
The results were attributed to contribution from the newly acquired Myer Center Adelaide from May 2015. Going forward, Starhill Global REIT is focused on asset enhancement works in Australia.
Among top gainers, Guocoland rose 4.1 percent to 2.29 Singapore dollars, while Singapore Airlines became one of the top losers by falling 4.7 percent to 10.88 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.37 Singapore dollars)
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