SINGAPORE - Singapore shares closed 0.63 per cent lower on Thursday following a drop on Wall Street and as investors awaited the release of US third-quarter economic data, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 16.67 points to 2,632.31, its third straight decline in as many days.

Volume totalled 1.73 billion shares worth S$1.61 billion. There were 174 gainers, 320 losers and 873 stocks were unchanged.

A trader with a local brokerage said US third-quarter gross domestic product figure to be released later Thursday is expected to show an end to the recession in the world's biggest economy. However, it was unlikely to cheer the market as it is already widely expected.

Most analysts expect US GDP to have grown an annualised 3.2 per cent in the third quarter.

"The market needed a pullback and 2,500 doesn't look that far away now. A retreat to 2,400 could be a reasonable expectation," the trader said.

Southeast Asia's biggest bank DBS eased six cents to S$12.92, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp added 12 cents to S$7.65 and United Overseas Bank dropped 22 cents to S$16.72.

Property developer CapitaLand was down seven cents to S$4.08, Singapore Telecommunications was off six cents to S$2.98, Singapore Airlines dipped eight cents to S$13.56 and container shipping firm Neptune Orient Lines ended two cents lower at S$1.62.

- AFP/ir