Additional Support Predicted For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,175-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index picked up 1.62 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,173.55 after trading between 3,165.44 and 3,179.49.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dropped 0.52 percent, while CapitaLand Investment shed 0.37 percent, City Developments lost 0.34 percent, DBS Group added 0.23 percent, Emperador jumped 1.15 percent, Genting Singapore skidded 0.57 percent, Hongkong Land declined 0.62 percent, Keppel DC REIT slumped 0.60 percent, Keppel Ltd fell 0.28 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plummeted 3.17 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust retreated 0.70 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.07 percent, SATS tanked 1.98 percent, Seatrium Limited plunged 2.47 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dipped 0.26 percent, SingTel rallied 0.80 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding skyrocketed 7.02 percent and Ascendas REIT, Comfort DelGro, Thai Beverage, Wilmar International and SembCorp Industries were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but trended upward throughout the day and finished in the green.

The Dow jumped 320.33 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 39,110.76, while the NASDAQ rallied 3.34 points or 0.39 percent to close at 16,166.79 and the S&P 500 gained 29.09 points or 0.56 percent to end at 5,178.51.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street reflected a rebound by Nvidia (NVDA) after the company unveiled its latest line of AI chips; the company has lately been a key driver of market activity.

Traders also continue to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the central bank's accompanying statement could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department noted a substantial rebound in new residential construction in the U.S. in February, while building permits also bounced higher.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday, rising for a second straight day as traders continued to assess the impact of Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April climbed $0.75 at $83.47 a barrel.