Singapore Bourse May Test Resistance At 3,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 35 points or 1 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,375-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after the Federal Reserve didn't raise its benchmark lending rate more than expected on Wednesday. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the property stocks and mixed performances from the financials and industrials.

For the day, the index picked up 11.98 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 3,377.65 after trading between 3,357.68 and 3,389.72.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT added 0.69 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 1.40 percent, CapitaLand Investment increased 0.25 percent, City Developments gained 0.60 percent, DBS Group perked 0.06 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 1.03 percent, Keppel Corp spiked 1.19 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 1.10 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.42 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust jumped 1.18 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.39 percent, SATS improved 0.33 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.55 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering strengthened 0.82 percent, SingTel surged 1.59 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.71 percent, United Overseas Bank fell 0.34 percent, Wilmar International gathered 0.49 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 1.35 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 0.78 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday and spent most of the day that way before a late push bumped them into the green.

The Dow rose 6.92 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 23,092.96, while the NASDAQ surged 231.77 points or 2.00 percent to close at 11,816.32 and the S&P 500 jumped 42.61 points or 1.05 percent to end at 4,119.21.

The late-day rally on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by another quarter point and signaled further rate hikes. The latest interest rate hike comes after the central bank raised rates by 75 basis points in November and by 50 basis points in December.

The Fed also said it anticipates ongoing increases in interest rates will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector job growth slowed more than expected in January. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted for the third consecutive month in January.

Oil prices fell to a three-week low on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing an increase in crude inventories last week in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.46 or 3.1 percent at $76.41 a barrel.