Friday, July 20, 2012

STI down 0.5% at 3,013.40 points by midday

Singapore shares fell, snapping five consecutive sessions of gains, but Singapore Exchange bucked the market after a report that the bourse is in talks with the London Stock Exchange Group about a potential US$11 billion ($13.8 billion) merger.

The Straits Times Index was down 0.5% at 3,013.40 points. The Singapore bourse has risen about 0.6% since the start of the week.

SGX shares rose to a three-month high after the Daily Telegraph reported that the chief executive of LSE Group, Xavier Rolet, has held a series of informal talks with SGX Chief Executive Magnus Bocker about a potential merger.

SGX shares rose as much as 2.4% to $6.84, the highest since April 19. The stock was the biggest gainer on the STI on Friday.

Shares of Singapore-listed Thai Beverage Pcl rose to the highest in 1-1/2 months after Heineken NV trumped a bid for Asia Pacific Breweries.

Thai Beverage’s shares jumped 4.4% to $0.355, the highest since June 6 and were the most actively traded shares in Singapore.

Among the biggest big-cap decliners were Singapore Telecommunications, which fell 1.7%, and CapitaMalls Asia, which lost more than 2%.

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