Singapore Shares Likely To Reverse Wednesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Wednesday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 50 points or 1.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,290-point plateau although it figures to see renewed support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on rising optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index lost 23.93 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 3,289.42 after trading between 3,285.45 and 3,309.42.

Among the actives, City Developments tumbled 2.19 percent, while Comfort DelGro retreated 2.08 percent, DBS Group slid 0.42 percent, Emperador tanked 2.30 percent, Genting Singapore fell 0.54 percent, Hongkong Land skidded 1.45 percent, Keppel DC REIT and SATS both dropped 1.15 percent, Keppel Ltd stumbled 1.47 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust declined 1.61 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust plunged 3.68 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.35 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 11.67 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.75 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.99 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.62 percent, Yangzijiang Financial slumped 1.56 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.57 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Investment, Singapore Technologies Engineering, SingTel and Mapletree Industrial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher and remained in the green throughout, finishing near daily highs.

The Dow rallied 349.89 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 39,908.00, while the NASDAQ spiked 231.21 points or 1.40 percent to close at 16,742.29 and the S&P 500 jumped 61.47 points or 1.17 percent to end at 5,308.15.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. rose slightly less than expected in April.

Following Tuesday's hotter-than-expected producer price inflation data, the report added to recently renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly came in flat in April, versus forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by soft inflation data and a report showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.61 or 0.78 percent at $78.63 a barrel.