SINGAPORE, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Singapore shares closed 0.43 percent lower on Thursday, as investors were assessing U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony to the Congress on Tuesday.
Yellen said the U.S. economy has improved and that wage growth and inflation must climb before rates can be raised, even though the job market has picked up. Higher interest rates in the U.S. are considered a risk to money flows toward emerging markets, including Asia.
The benchmark Straits Times Index fell 14.65 points to close at 3,426.18 points. Trading volume was 1.13 billion shares worth 946 million Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 225 to 188, while 522 stocks closed unchanged.
Voyage Research said "we expect to see the Straits Times Index drift more towards the upper range of the index of 3,430 points and 3,460 points."
C&G Environmental Protection Holdings closed flat at 22 Singapore cents. It has recently been awarded a sales contract of sludge dewatering system procurement of the fourth sewage treatment plant expansion project in Xi'an.
Moya Holdings Asia soared 70.4 percent to 4.6 Singapore cents. It proposed to issue 367.5 million new shares, representing 29 percent of the enlarged issued share capital, at an issue price of eight Singapore cents per share.
The issue price represents a premium of approximately 199.6 percent to the last volume weighted average price.
The subscriber is part of an Indonesian-based group which is presently principally engaged in the investment, development, construction and operation of hydroelectric power plants.
The net proceeds of 29.3 million Singapore dollars will be mainly used for funding the capital expenditure requirements relating to its current projects in Indonesia which involve designing, building, upgrading and operating of bulk water supply and water supply concessions.
Among the top gainers, Wilmar International rose 1.8 percent to 3.31 Singapore dollars, whereas Jardine Matheson became one of the top losers by falling 1.4 percent to 65.20 U.S. dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 6.262 Chinese yuan and 1.35 Singapore dollars)
