Singapore Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 40 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,010-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with technology stocks expected to fall under strong selling pressure. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher following gains from the property stocks, trusts and industrials, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index improved 24.23 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 3,008.38 after trading between 2,987.60 and 3,018.16. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 1.1 billion Singapore dollars. There were 309 gainers and 191 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rallied 3.59 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust soared 4.40 percent, CapitaLand Investment strengthened 2.93 percent, City Developments improved 2.33 percent, DBS Group shed 0.40 percent, Genting Singapore added 0.63 percent, Hongkong Land rose 0.26 percent, Keppel Corp perked 0.15 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust accelerated 3.80 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust surged 4.63 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust climbed 2.74 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.34 percent, SATS spiked 4.33 percent, SembCorp Industries gathered 1.08 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering increased 1.25 percent, United Overseas Bank fell 0.19 percent, Wilmar International jumped 3.16 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding advanced 2.52 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, SingTel, Thai Beverage, Comfort DelGro and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday, saw some strength midday but headed south as the day progressed.

The Dow managed a slight gain of 2.37 points or 0.01 percent to 31,839.11, while the NASDAQ plunged 228.12 points or 2.04 percent to close at 10.970.99 and the S&P 500 sank 28.51 points or 0.74 percent to end at 3,830.60.

The steep drop by the NASDAQ came amid a negative reaction to disappointing earnings news from tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

On the other hand, the slight uptick by the Dow came amid a strong gain by shares of Visa (V), which 4.6 percent after reporting better than expected third quarter results.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that new home sales in the U.S. pulled back sharply in September after unexpectedly skyrocketing in August, although the decrease was smaller than expected.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by data showing a drop in gasoline stockpiles and a weak U.S. dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December spiked $2.59 or 3 percent at $87.91 a barrel.