SINGAPORE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Singapore shares closed 1.05 percent higher on Thursday, as investors continued their buying spree after U.S. released sluggish economic data.
U.S. retail sales and producer prices data out overnight were weaker than expected, supporting growing views that the Federal Reserve would delay hiking interest rates until 2016. But U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday after Wal-Mart Stores predicted earnings will decline next year and quarterly results from JPMorgan Chase disappointed.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index rose 31.22 points to 3,015.14 points. Trading volume was 1.53 billion shares worth 1.1 billion Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 288 to 129, while 520 stocks did not move.
Singapore Post Limited closed flat at 1.79 Singapore dollars. It said it plans to acquire 96.3 percent of U.S.-based e-commerce firm TradeGlobal, which offers e-commerce services for the fashion and beauty industries, for 168.6 million U.S. dollars, in a bid to expand its e-commerce business outside the region.
Soilbuild REIT rose 1.8 percent to 83.5 Singapore cents. It declared a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.625 Singapore cents for the third quarter ended September 30. That is 1.5 percent higher than the 1.546 Singapore cents declared a year earlier.
Its revenue jumped 22.4 percent to 20.7 million Singapore dollars from 16.9 million Singapore dollars a year ago, mostly due to the acquisitions completed in 2014 and 2015.
Among top gainers, Jardine Matheson rose 3.1 percent to 53.70 U.S. dollars, while Dairy Farm International became one of the top losers by falling 2.9 percent to 6.35 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.38 Singapore dollars)
