SINGAPORE, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Singapore shares closed 0.4 percent lower on Friday, as the lack of progress in U.S. stimulus talks weighed on market sentiment.

U.S. markets advanced in volatile trading on Thursday on reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin floated the idea of restarting stimulus talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, although Pelosi said there will not be a standalone bill on airlines unless there are guarantees other stimulus issues will be addressed.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose on news that Saudi Arabia was reconsidering a planned production hike in January.

Maybank-Kim Eng Retail Research said technically, the Straits Times Index has broken out of its four-month downtrend and could take a breather before heading towards next objectives at 2,570 points and 2,600 points with underlying support at 2,520 points.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index fell 10.15 points to 2,532.96 points. Trading volume was 1.07 billion shares worth 844.02 million Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 212 to 173.

Tiong Woon Corporation rose 1.28 percent to 39.5 Singapore cents. It was awarded two five-year contracts with Shell Eastern Petroleum and Shell Chemicals Seraya for the provision of crane rental services. Owing to the confidentiality of the contracts, the contract sums are not disclosed. Both contracts commenced from last month.

Among top gainers, DBS Group Holdings rose 0.14 percent to 21.05 Singapore dollars, while Singapore Exchange became one of the top losers by falling 0.33 percent to 9.07 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 1.36 Singapore dollars) Enditem

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