Additional Support Expected For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the four-day slid in which it had slumped almost 50 points or 1.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,900-point plateau, and it's expected to open to the upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following news of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index added 25.04 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 3,904.30 after trading between 3,890.87 and 3,910.83.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and DFI Retail Group both added 0.77 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust sank 0.93 percent, CapitaLand Investment rose 0.40 percent, City Developments advanced 0.99 percent, Comfort DelGro gained 0.70 percent, DBS Group climbed 1.00 percent, Genting Singapore surged 1.44 percent, Hongkong Land skidded 1.08 percent, Keppel DC REIT shed 0.87 percent, Keppel Ltd jumped 1.09 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust lost 0.81 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust strengthened 1.03 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust increased 0.88 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation spiked 1.38 percent, SATS collected 0.67 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slumped 1.14 percent, SingTel stumbled 1.54 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 1.10 percent, Wilmar International dropped 1.02 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 1.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding improved 0.91 percent and Seatrium Limited and SembCorp Industries were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened solidly higher and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 507.24 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 43,089.02, while the NASDAQ rallied 281.56 points or 1.43 percent to close at 19,912.53 and the S&P 500 improved 67.01 points or 1.11 percent to end at 6,092.18.

The continued strength on Wall Street came after news that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran is now in effect. While both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, traders appeared to remain optimistic about easing tensions in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicating the central bank will remain on hold despite pressure from Trump to lower interest rates.

On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing an unexpected deterioration by consumer confidence in the month of June.