Rebound Predicted For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,730-point plateau and it's expected to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the global outlook, although weak oil prices limited the upside. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index slumped 14.63 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 3,731.39 after trading between 3,730.96 and 3,764.90.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust spiked 1.55 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rallied 1.08 percent, City Developments soared 2.33 percent, Comfort DelGro gained 0.68 percent, DBS Group fell 0.19 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 1.29 percent, Hongkong Land lost 0.43 percent, Keppel DC REIT skyrocketed 7.21 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.75 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 0.82 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust advanced 0.88 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust surged 3.20 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation tanked 1.64 percent, SATS gathered 0.52 percent, Seatrium Limited jumped 1.05 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.38 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plunged 2,14 percent, SingTel slumped 0.65 percent, Thai Beverage and Frasers Centrepoint Trust both climbed 0.95 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.65 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.25 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 2.23 percent and Emperador and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow rallied 440.0.6 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 44,736.57, while the NASDAQ added 51.19 points or 0.48 percent to close at 20,220.36 and the S&P 500 rose 18.03 points or 0.30 percent to end at 5,987.37.

Stocks added to the strong gains posted last week amid a positive reaction to news President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.

Bessent is seen as supportive of the equity markets and an advocate for deficit reduction. He has also called for Trump's planned tariff increases to be implemented gradually, which could reduce the impact on inflation.

However, buying interest waned as the day progressed, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of several key economic reports in the coming days.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday, weighed down by reports that Israel and Hezbollah are likely to reach a cease-fire agreement within the next few days. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $2.30 or 3.2 percent at $68.94 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide October figures for industrial production later today; in September, industrial output was flat on month and up 9.8 percent on year.