Singapore Shares May Bounce Higher Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 25 points or 0.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,340-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on easing treasury yields. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index shed 9.93 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 3,338.94 after trading between 3,332.88 and 3,349.17.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment slid 0.37 percent, while City Developments advanced 0.90 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.72 percent, DBS Group sank 0.67 percent, Genting Singapore and Seatrium Limited both shed 0.56 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.78 percent, Keppel DC REIT tanked 1.63 percent, Keppel Ltd slumped 0.90 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust added 0.80 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.46 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation tumbled 1.10 percent, SATS spiked 2.11 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.39 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plummeted 2.42 percent, SingTel increased 0.81 percent, Thai Beverage stumbled 1.00 percent, Wilmar International climbed 0.97 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding improved 0.86 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Emperador and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages spent much Tuesday under water before a late rally nudged them modestly up into the green.

The Dow climbed 140.26 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 38,711.29, while the NASDAQ rose 28.38 points or 0.17 percent to close at 16,857.05 and the S&P 500 perked 7.94 points or 0.15 percent to end at 5,291.34.

The higher close by the major averages came on a notable decrease by treasury yields, which extended their recent decline. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note closed lower for the fourth straight session, pulling back further off the nearly one-month closing high last Wednesday.

The continued advance by treasuries came amid signs of weakness in the labor market, with a report from the Labor Department showing a modest decrease in U.S. job openings in April.

On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly jobs report, which could have a significant impact on the outlook for the economy and interest rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns about possible oversupply in the market after OPEC decided to phase out voluntary production cuts from October. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July fell $0.97 or 1.3 percent at $73.25 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release April numbers for retail sales later today; in March, sales were down 1.0 percent on month and up 2.7 percent on year.