Stock Market

Singapore shares closed 0.61 percent lower Friday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the release of key US non-farm payroll data, dealers said. The blue chip Straits Times Index dropped 17.17 points to 2,791.01. Volume traded totalled 1.24 billion shares worth 1.40 billion Singapore dollars (1.01 billion US) and there were 170 rising issues, 253 losers while 827 issues were even.