Singapore Stock Market May Extend Its Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 25 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,580-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to optimism over the U.S. presidential election. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the property stocks and mixed performances from the industrials and financial shares.

For the day, the index rose 9.57 points or 0.27 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,581.61 after trading as low as 3,555.27.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Thai Beverage both slumped 0.98 percent, while CapitaLand Investment spiked 1.39 percent, City Developments advanced 0.76 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.68 percent, DBS Group collected 0.08 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 1.75 percent, Hongkong Land surged 3.12 percent, Keppel DC REIT shed 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd gained 0.31 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.77 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.41 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.75 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both fell 0.40 percent, SATS climbed 1.01 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 1.58 percent, SembCorp Industries slid 0.20 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.22 percent, SingTel rallied 1.28 percent, Wilmar International jumped 1.29 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 1.23 percent and Emperador was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow rallied 427.28 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 42,221.88, while the NASDAQ surged 259.19 points or 1.43 percent to close at 18,439.17 and the S&P 500 jumped 70.07 points or 1.23 percent to end at 5.782.76.

The rally on Wall Street reflected optimism the stock market and the U.S. economy in general will continue to perform well regardless of the results of the elections.

Polls show an extremely tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, suggesting the outcome of the presidential election may not be known by the end of the night.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity grew at an accelerated rate in October. Also, the Commerce Department noted a significant increase in the size of the U.S. trade deficit in September, as imports surged and exports slumped.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session as traders reacted positively to OPEC's decision to delay production increases, while a weaker dollar also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.52 or 0.73 percent at $71.99 a barrel.