Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 55 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,310-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with losses among technology stocks likely to be mitigated by continued support from oil shares. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index advanced 30.04 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 3,311.12 after trading between 3,288.95 and 3,316.17.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT strengthened 1.04 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust accelerated 1.50 percent, CapitaLand Investment and SingTel both increased 0.80 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.83 percent, DBS Group climbed 1.00 percent, Emperador improved 0.99 percent, Hongkong Land shed 0.45 percent, Keppel Corp surged 2.79 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust gained 0.55 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust soared 1.71 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 1.61 percent, SATS jumped 1.08 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.46 percent, Thai Beverage added 0.78 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.98 percent, Wilmar International perked 0.23 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 1.65 percent and Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, City Developments, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Mapletree Industrial Trust and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday but quicky turned lower and finished with modest losses.

The Dow tumbled 198.77 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 33,402.38, while the NASDAQ sank 63.12 points or 0.52 percent to close at 12,126.33 and the S&P 500 shed 23.91 points or 0.58 percent to end at 4,100.60.

Profit taking contributed to the pullback on Wall Street, as traders cashed in on recent strength in the markets amid lingering concerns about the global economic outlook.

Negative sentiment was also generated by a Labor Department report showing job openings in the U.S. fell more than expected in February. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell more than expected in February.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday, extending gains to a fourth straight session as the decision of the OPEC+ to cut crude production continued to support oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.29 or 0.4 percent at $80.71 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release February figures for retail sales later today; in January, sales were down 9.4 percent on month and 0.8 percent on year.