Shares close weaker

SINGAPORE - Singapore shares closed 0.75 per cent lower on Friday as investors booked profits ahead of the weekend, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 13.13 points to 1,745.66.

Volume totalled 1.70 billion shares worth $1.08 billion (US$727 million). There were 211 rising issues, 218 losers and 830 even.

'It's to be expected that the market would give back some of its strong recent gains,' AmFraser's senior vice-president of equity sales Gabriel Gan was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires.

'I think the pullback will be fairly mild and last maybe a couple of days, then I'm expecting the uptrend to resume.'

Among the banks, DBS fell 18 cents to $8.56, United Overseas Bank dropped 36 cents to $10.18 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp eased 12 cents to $4.95.

For the property firms, City Developments gained two cents to $5.31, CapitaLand added five cents to $2.42 and Keppel Land advanced two cents to $1.51.

Singapore Airlines slipped 12 cents to $10.18 and Singapore Telecommunications gained five cents to $2.62.