Singapore shares closed 0.44 percent higher on Tuesday, as investors waited for fresh cues from the U.S. market when they resumed trade after holidays on Monday. Equity, bond and currency markets were hit last week by talk the U.S. Federal Reserve could scale back its aggressive monetary stimulus, kept in place for the past five years and underpinning global financial markets, sooner than had been expected. SIAS Research said comments by Chinese President Xi Jinping about concerns over a slowdown of the world\'s second largest economy could also continue to weigh on sentiment. The research house forecast support for the Straits Times Index will be at 3, 370 points. Singapore\'s benchmark Straits Times Index rebounded 14.78 points to 3,406.08 points. Trading volume was 3.34 billion shares worth 1.53 billion Singapore dollars. Advancers slightly outnumbered decliners 318 to 144, while 487 stocks did not move. Singapore Press Holdings rose 1.8 percent to 4.47 Singapore dollars. It announced plans to establish and list a real estate investment trust whose assets are two shopping malls, aiming to raise 1.05 billion Singapore dollars from what could be the city- state\'s third-biggest initial public offering this year. CapitaLand dropped 0.3 percent to 3.64 Singapore dollars. Australian property firm GPT Group said it has abandoned its bid to buy smaller rival Australand Property Group\'s most valuable assets, including its 2.4-billion-U.S.-dollar investment property portfolio. Australand is 59 percent owned by Singapore-based property group CapitaLand. Sembcorp Marine gained 0.5 percent to 4.43 Singapore dollars. Its subsidiary Jurong Shipyard has secured a 596-million-U.S.- dollar contract from Noble Corporation for building an ultra-high specification jack-up rig with option for an additional unit for use in the UK sector of the North Sea. Among top gainers, Jardine Cycle and Carriage jumped 5.1 percent to 48.75 Singapore dollars, while STXPO became one of the top losers by falling 3.3 percent to 3.50 Singapore dollars. (1 U. S. dollar equals 1.26 Singapore dollars)