Singapore Stock Market May Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has ticked lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than 30 points or 0.7percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,780-point plateau although it's due for support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology shares expected to fuel the rally. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the property stocks, while the industrials and financials were mixed.

For the day, the index shed 14.16 points or 0.37 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,781.21 after peaking at 3,811.53.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust skidded 1.02 percent, while CapitaLand Investment stumbled 1.61 percent, DBS Group and Hongkong Land both shed 0.48 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 0.68 percent, Keppel DC REIT and Mapletree Industrial Trust both declined 1.34 percent, Keppel Ltd slumped 1.17 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.67 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.12 percent, SATS plummeted 2.76 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.42 percent, SingTel retreated 1.60 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.65 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 3.61 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 3.81 percent and Seatrium Limited, SembCorp Industries, City Developments, Comfort DelGro, Thai Beverage, Emperador and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher and spent all day in the green, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 130.92 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 44,156.73, while the NASDAQ surged 252.56 points or 1.28 percent to close at 20,009.34 and the S&P 500 added 37.13 points or 0.61 percent to end at 6,086.37.

The strength on Wall Street came as investors reacted positively to upbeat earnings updates and corporate news, and on continued optimism about rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was fueled by buoyant earnings and sales guidance by Netflix, as well as President Donald Trump's announcement of a $500 billion private-sector AI infrastructure investment plan involving Oracle, Open AI and Softbank.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday, extending recent weakness on concerns about excess supply in the market due to the Trump administration's plan to maximize oil and gas production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $75.44 a barrel, extending losses to a fifth straight session.

Closer to home, Singapore will release December numbers for consumer prices later today. Overall inflation is expected to rise 1.5 percent on year, easing from 1.6 percent in November. Core CPI is seen higher by an annual 1.7 percent, down from 1.9 percent in the previous month.