by Tan Shih Ming
SINGAPORE, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Singapore shares closed 0.39 percent higher on Thursday, as investor sentiment and risk appetite improved following a record-breaking performance from Wall Street overnight.
U.S. stock markets climbed on Wednesday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average marched past the psychological 20,000 point level, supported by President Donald Trump's pro-growth initiatives and strong fourth-quarter earnings among U.S. companies. The Standard and Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indexes also closed at record highs for a second consecutive session.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index rose 11.84 points to 3,051.78 points. Trading volume was 2.33 billion shares worth 1.27 billion Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 245 to 183, while 668 stocks did not move.
CapitaLand Retail China Trust dropped 0.7 percent to 1.41 Singapore dollars. It declared a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.37 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended December 2016, 8.5 percent lower from 2.59 Singapore cents a year ago mainly due to higher property tax provision for the Trust's Beijing malls, due to a change from cost to revenue basis effective July 2016, and a weaker Chinese yuan against Singapore dollar compared to a year ago. This brings the total DPU for financial year 2016 to 10.05 Singapore cents, 5.2 percent lower than then 10.6 Singapore cents declared for 2015.
Mapletree Commercial Trust rose 1.7 percent to 1.505 Singapore dollars. It declared a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.28 Singapore cents for the quarter ended December 2016, a 9.6 percent increase from 2.08 Singapore cents a year ago and 6.5 percent higher than the forecast DPU of 2.14 Singapore cents. Its gross revenue grew 47.4 percent to 108.76 million Singapore dollars compared to 73.77 million Singapore dollars a year ago, which was largely due to a 31 million Singapore dollar contribution by its accretive acquisition of Mapletree Business City I.
Among the top gainers, Jardine Cycle and Carriage rose 1.2 percent to 42.15 Singapore dollars, whereas Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by falling 0.7 percent to 60.65 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.42 Singapore dollars)
