Singapore Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 30 points or 1 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,325-point plateau although it may see mild selling pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, with investors expected to wait and see what happens in terms of corporate earnings. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little hanged and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, properties and industrials.

For the day, the index added 14.49 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 3,324.05 after trading between 3,307.36 and 3,326.15.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT fell 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.49 percent, CapitaLand Investment gained 0.53 percent, City Developments and UOL Group both perked 0.14 percent, DBS Group added 0.61 percent, Emperador dropped 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore plunged 2.59 percent, Keppel Corp jumped 1.98 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.64 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.56 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 0.86 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.47 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rallied 1.10 percent, SingTel improved 0.40 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.77 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.84 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 1.64 percent and Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, Hongkong Land, Mapletree Industrial Trust, SATS, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains ambiguous as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday but chipped away throughout the session to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 79.62 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 33,897.01, while the NASDAQ rose 3.82 points or 0.03 percent to close at 12,157.23 and the S&P 500 eased 0.35 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,154.52.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders reacted to mixed earnings news as Netflix (NFLX) disappointed while Morgan Stanley (MS) and Travelers (TRV) beat the street.

Negative sentiment was generated by a jump in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note reaching its highest level in nearly a month. The increase reflected concerns about global inflation after the U.K. said consumer prices increased more than expected in March.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book report, noting U.S. economic activity was little changed in recent weeks, while the rate of price increases appeared to be slowing.

Crude oil prices slid on Wednesday on concerns that any further policy tightening by the Fed could hurt growth and significantly curb energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $1.66 or 2 percent at $79.24 a barrel.