SINGAPORE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Singapore shares closed 0.03 percent lower on Tuesday, as the release of U.S. corporate earning reports kept investors on edge.
U.S. earnings results have been trickling in but will pick up steam in coming days. Several big banks will report this week, as well as Netflix and Honeywell International. J.P. Morgan Chase reported overnight its third-quarter profit rose but its revenue fell, while Intel said its third-quarter earnings fell 6.3 percent as demand for personal computers continued to be weak.
Meanwhile, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6 percent in September from a year earlier, falling short of market expectations of 1.8 percent and down from 2.0 percent in August.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index inched down 0.96 points to 2,983.92 points. Trading volume was 1.03 billion shares worth 907 million Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 217 to 177, while 542 stocks did not move.
Lian Beng Group rose 4.9 percent to 53.5 Singapore cents. The construction company reported a 169.5 percent jump in first- quarter earnings to 32.3 million Singapore dollars from a year ago on the back of the group's share of results from associates and joint ventures.
However, its revenue for the three months to August decreased 19.1 percent to 135.6 million Singapore dollars, mainly due to the decrease in revenue from its construction segment and the ready- mixed concrete segment.
Singapore Press Holdings dropped 1.5 percent to 3.94 Singapore dollars. It reported earnings for the financial year ended August 31 tumbled 20.4 percent to 321.7 million Singapore dollars from a year ago on lower fair value gain on investment properties and the absence of a one-off gain in the previous year from a partial divestment. Its revenue also fell 3.1 percent to 1.18 billion Singapore dollars.
Among the top gainers, Jardine Matheson jumped 0.7 percent to 52.10 U.S. dollars, whereas DBS Group became one of the top losers by falling 0.5 percent to 17.43 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.39 Singapore dollars)
