Singapore Bourse May Challenge Resistance At 3,500 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in consecutive trading days, collecting more than 55 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,460-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, fueled by technology shares ahead of key inflation data. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index climbed 33.84 points or 0.99 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,459.93 after moving as low as 3,433.36.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 1.01 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rallied 1.52 percent, City Developments perked 0.76 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.73 percent, DBS Group soared 2.01 percent, Hongkong Land strengthened 1.55 percent, Keppel DC REIT climbed 1.09 percent, Keppel Ltd jumped 1.67 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust rose 0.82 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust increased 0.48 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust gathered 0.80 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.53 percent, SATS improved 0.66 percent, Seatrium Limited slumped 1.42 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 1.90 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering accelerated 1.85 percent, SingTel advanced 1.03 percent, Thai Beverage surged 3.37 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding retreated 1.28 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Wilmar International and Jardine Matheson were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday but climbed steadily throughout the day, ending with strong gains near session highs.

The Dow surged 429.39 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 39,721.36, while the NASDAQ rallied 218.16 points or 1.18 percent to end at a record 18,647.45 and the S&P 500 jumped 56.93 points or 1.02 percent to close at 5,633.91 - also a record.

The rally on Wall Street was due to strength among technology stocks, as reflected by the notable advance by the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

Stocks may also have benefitted from optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data later today.

During congressional testimony, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said more good data would strengthen the central bank's confidence inflation is moving sustainably toward its 2 percent target and lead to a potential interest rate cut.

Oil futures settled higher Wednesday after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.69 at $82.10 a barrel.