Higher Open Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in eight straight sessions, improving almost 175 points or 5.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,275-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials and trusts were offset by weakness from the properties and industrials.

For the day, the index added 14.48 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 3,275.28 after trading between 3,261.96 and 3,285.72. Volume was 1.89 billion shares worth 1.45 billion Singapore dollars. There were 335 gainers and 261 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT lost 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Investment improved 1.12 percent, City Developments dipped 0.25 percent, Comfort DelGro plummeted 4.41 percent, DBS Group advanced 0.92 percent, Emperador skidded 1.01 percent, Genting Singapore gained 0.59 percent, Hongkong Land shed 070 percent, Keppel Corp fell 0.27 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 1.17 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rose 0.43 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.22 percent, SATS sank 0.73 percent, SembCorp Industries plunged 2.98 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 1.16 percent, SingTel added 0.72 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.17 percent, Wilmar International spiked 1.23 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 2.82 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tanked 2.88 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday, faded midday and then bounced higher again to end in the green.

The Dow added 56.22 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 33,592.92, while the NASDAQ jumped 162.19 point or 1.45 percent to end at 11,358.41 and the S&P 500 gained 34.48 points or 0.87 percent to close at 3,991.73.

The early rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. crept up much less than expected in October.

Following last week's tamer-than-expected consumer price inflation report, the data added to optimism about the Federal Reserve slowing the pace of interest rate hikes as soon as next month.

However, stocks pulled back well off their best levels of the day following reports Russian missiles crossed into Poland, killing two people.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, thanks to the smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. producer prices in October. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.94 at 86.81 a barrel.