Additional Support Anticipated For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after ending the five-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 40 points or 1.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,340-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European and U.S. markets finished slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The STI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and property stocks, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 5.77 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 3,338.57 after trading between 3,325.17 and 3,341.59. Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slumped 1.01 percent, while CapitaLand Investment sank 0.38 percent, City Developments spiked 1.74 percent, Comfort DelGro improved 0.75 percent, DBS Group climbed 0.92 percent, Emperador tumbled 1.15 percent, Genting Singapore plunged 2.31 percent, Hongkong Land was up 0.31 percent, Keppel DC REIT added 0.56 percent, Keppel Ltd dropped 0.46 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust jumped 1.64 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust advanced 0.78 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.49 percent, SATS rose 0.35 percent, Seatrium Limited surged 4.35 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 1.04 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering skidded 0.92 percent, SingTel gained 0.36 percent, Thai Beverage stumbled 1.11 percent, Wilmar International fell 0.32 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tanked 1.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 2.44 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the markets opened slightly higher on Monday and hugged the line for much of the day before moving firmly into the green by the close.

The Dow added 50.66 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 39,169.52, while the NASDAQ rallied 146.70 points or 0.83 percent to end at 17,879.30 and the S&P 500 gained 14.61 points or 0.27 percent to close at 5,475.09.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. The report, which is expected to show a slowdown in the pace of job growth in June, could impact the outlook for interest rates.

Traders may also be sticking to the sidelines ahead of remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday as well as the Independence Day holiday on Thursday.

On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing manufacturing activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in June. Also, the Commerce Department noted a slight decrease in U.S. construction spending in May.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, on expectations of higher demand, supply concerns and production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.84 or about 2.2 percent at $83.38 a barrel.