Higher Open Called For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the Lunar New Year break, the Singapore stock market had snapped the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 10 points or 0.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,800-point plateau and it may see additional support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from oil, gold and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up on Thursday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the properties and trusts, while the financials were mixed and the industrials were soft.

For the day, the index perked 4.36 points or 0.11 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,801.07 after peaking at 3,837.88.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.52 percent, while CapitaLand Investment gained 0.41 percent, City Developments improved 0.60 percent, Comfort DelGro slumped 0.72 percent, DBS Group collected 0.30 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.68 percent, Hongkong Land slid 0.23 percent, Keppel DC REIT surged 2.87 percent, Keppel Ltd shed 0.59 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust rallied 1.67 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.47 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.29 percent, SATS lost 0.58 percent, Seatrium Limited fell 0.45 percent, SembCorp Industries tumbled 2.16 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering declined 1.03 percent, SingTel spiked 1.87 percent, Wilmar International slid 0.33 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding retreated 1.98 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Thai Beverage, Emperador, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Jardine Cycle were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, dipped into the red a few times but all ended above the unchanged line.

The Dow jumped 168.61 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 44,882.13, while the NASDAQ added 49.43 points or 0.25 percent to close at 19,681.75 and the S&P 500 gained 31.86 points or 0.53 percent to end at 6,071.17.

The major averages moved sharply lower late in the session after President Donald Trump said he would follow through on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico on February 1.

However, the major averages rebounded going into the close, reflecting the significant volatility from earnings news throughout the session.

Companies such as IBM Corp. (IBM) and Meta Platforms (META) posted quarterly results that beat expectations, while Microsoft (MSFT) and UPS (UPS) has decent earnings but provided disappointing guidance.

Oil futures settled marginally higher on Thursday on a likely drop in supplies amid a potential tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods, while a weaker dollar also provided support. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March rose $0.11 or 0.15 percent at $72.73 a barrel.