Win Streak May Continue For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, collecting more than 90 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,500-point plateau and it figures to see additional support on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the properties and mixed performances from the financial shares and industrial issues.

For the day, the index improved 2.11 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 3,499.89 after trading between 3,491.23 and 3,509.20. Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust stumbled 1.42 percent, CapitaLand Investment retreated 1.78 percent, City Developments and UOL Group both added 0.18 percent, DBS Group eased 0.08 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.20 percent, Keppel DC REIT tumbled 2.01 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.75 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rallied 1.33 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.33 percent, SATS spiked 1.52 percent, Seatrium Limited sank 0.68 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.63 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.23 percent, SingTel surged 2.03 percent, Wilmar International slumped 0.95 percent, Yangzijiang Financial declined 1.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding soared 1.77 percent and Comfort DelGro, Emperador, Genting Singapore, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Keppel Ltd and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and stayed that way throughout the session to hit fresh record closing highs in somewhat choppy trade.

The Dow rallied 210.82 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 40,211.72, while the NASDAQ gained 74.12 points or 0.40 percent to close at 18,472.57 and the S&P 500 rose 15.87 points or 0.28 percent to end at 5,631.22.

The support on Wall Street was due largely to comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who said that the central bank will not wait until inflation hits 2 percent to cut interest rates.

On the economic front, a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed regional manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly faster rate in July.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Monday, weighed down by weighed down by political uncertainty following an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and weak economic data from China. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended down $0.30 at $81.91 a barrel.