Singapore stocks end almost flat

Singapore shares closed 0.05 percent higher on Tuesday, after a spate of comments from Federal Reserve officials offered nothing to suggest that a rollback of the massive U.S. stimulus is imminent. U.S. data on Monday showed orders for a wide range of U.S.-made capital goods fell more than expected in September, suggesting companies cut their investment plans. On Friday, the U.S. will release its non-farm payrolls figures, a key economic indicator that has been watched closely in recent months to see whether the Federal Reserve will roll back its bond- buying program. DBS Group Research said Straits Times Index is trapped within range of 3,150 points and 3,250 points mainly due to insipid third quarter results season to date. Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index inched up 1.6 points to 3,205.54 points. Trading volume was 2.04 billion shares worth 868 million Singapore dollars. Advancers outnumbered decliners 208 to 198, while 547 stocks did not move. Among top actives, Viking Offshore and Marine soared 62.2 percent to 13.3 Singapore cents. It announced that it will venture into the mainstream offshore rig-building and rig charter market by constructing a drilling jack-up rig at a cost of approximately 180 million U.S. dollars. Falcon Energy Group closed flat at 41 Singapore cents, although it reported a 776 percent rise in net profit to 34.4 million U.S. dollars in first half of financial year 2014. This was on the back of a 511 percent jump in revenue to 209.7 million U.S. dollars. HanKore Environment dropped 4.5 percent to 6.3 Singapore cents. It is proposing to consolidate every 10 existing shares into one share. The proposed share consolidation will rationalize the share capital of the company by reducing the number of shares outstanding. Among top gainers, Jardine Cycle and Carriage rose 0.5 percent to 36.68 Singapore dollars, while Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by dropping 0.7 percent to 54.16 U.S. dollars. (1 U. S. dollar equals to 1.24 Singapore dollars)