Singapore - Xinhua
Singapore shares closed 0.01 percent lower on Wednesday, as investors were waiting for the U.S. financial markets to resume trading later Wednesday with the passage of a powerful storm. U.S. stock and bond markets had closed for two days as Hurricane Sandy battered the U.S. East Coast. Meanwhile, Spain\'s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has yet to apply for an external rescue which would initiate the European Central Bank\'s bond buying program to ease borrowing strains. Euro- zone finance ministers will hold a conference call on Wednesday to discuss progress in negotiations of the revised Greek bailout but are not expected to make any decisions yet. Commenting on the two-day closure of U.S. markets, OCBC Investment Research said \"we may get some funds coming into Asia and even into Singapore. As a fund manager, you have to make money work.\" The benchmark Straits Times Index lost 0.36 points to close 3, 038.37 points. Trading volume was 2.04 billion shares worth 1.49 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 195 to 169, while 599 stocks closed unchanged. Global Logistic Properties rose 0.8 percent to 2.57 Singapore dollars. It said it had acquired an additional 20 percent in its largest logistics park in China, GLP Park Suzhou, from its joint venture partner for 392.3 million Chinese yuan. Global Logistic Properties bought the stake from SEALL, a government-owned company affiliated to the Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee, raising its stake to 70 percent from 50 percent. Indofood Agri inched down 0.8 percent to 1.26 Singapore dollars. The Indonesian palm oil firm said its third-quarter net profit rose 22 percent to 258 billion Indonesian rupiah from a year earlier, mainly due to higher sales volume of palm products and contribution from sugar operations. Overseas Union Enterprise rose 0.8 percent to 2.65 Singapore dollars. The Singapore hotel and property firm backed by Indonesia \'s Lippo Group issued 200 million Singapore dollars unsecured fixed rate notes due 2019 at 4.25 percent per annum. The issue was under the company\'s 1 billion Singapore dollars medium term note program. SIA Engineering gained 1 percent to 4.20 Singapore dollars. The aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul firm said its second- quarter net profit fell 5.8 percent from a year earlier to 67.1 million Singapore dollars, dragged down by foreign exchange loss and higher expenses. Among the top gainers, APB rose 0.3 percent to 52.70 Singapore dollars, while Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by falling 1.3 percent to 61.60 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 6.238 Chinese yuan, 9,615 Indonesian rupiah and 1.22 Singapore dollars)