Soft Start Seen For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 40 points or 1.2 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,300-point plateau although it may open under pressure on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key inflation data later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index added 12.96 points or 0.39 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,303.66 after moving as low as 3,281.36.

Among the actives, City Developments lost 0.33 percent, while Comfort DelGro advanced 0.69 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.08 percent, Genting Singapore surged 4.52 percent, Hongkong Land soared 2.09 percent, Keppel DC REIT slumped 1.14 percent, Keppel Ltd rose 0.15 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.81 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.90 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 1.13 percent, SATS gained 0.39 percent, Seatrium Limited rallied 1.14 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.76 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 1.26 percent, SingTel added 0.42 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.16 percent and Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Investment, Emperador and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 81.33 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 39,431,51, while the NASDAQ gained 47.37 points or 0.29 percent to end at 16,388.24 and the S&P 500 eased 1.26 points or 0.02 percent to close at 5,221.42.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from renewed optimism about an interest rate cut by Federal Reserve in the coming months.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as key inflation data due this week could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

Oil prices advanced on Monday amid expectations about the outlook for demand after OPEC decided to extend supply cuts into the second half of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.86 at $79.12 a barrel.