Singapore stocks take breather after two-day rally; Noble soars 35%

Singapore shares snapped two-day rally on Tuesday, as investors booked profits in recent outperformers following sharp gains in the previous two sessions.

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SGX Logo. Reuters

Singapore shares snapped two-day rally on Tuesday, as investors booked profits in recent outperformers following sharp gains in the previous two sessions.

Asian shares took a breather on Tuesday after three straight sessions of gains. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dithered either side of flat having bounced 2 percent in the past three sessions.

Investors continued their policy vigil with the Federal Reserve set to end its two-day meeting on Wednesday, while the European Central Bank meets on Thursday.

At 0510 GMT, the Straits Times Index lost 0.2 percent or 7 points to 3,453. It ended 1.05 percent higher on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 20 percent.

Shares of United Overseas Bank were down 0.04 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking fell 0.2 percent while DBS Group Holdings declined 0.4 percent.

Shares in Infinio Group jumped as much as 50 percent to S$0.003 on the Singapore Exchange.

Embattled commodities trader Noble Group jumped 35 percent after it completed the sale of U.S.-based coal unit, MR Coal Marketing for US$34.5 million to an unnamed buyer.

About 784 million shares worth S$423 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 182 to 136.

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