Little Movement Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday halted the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 65 points or 1.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,585-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky thanks to a less clear outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the industrial companies.

For the day, the index rose 11.93 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 3,585.29 after trading between 3,566.00 and 3,594.20.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 1.40 percent, CapitaLand Investment spiked 1.30 percent, City Developments fell 0.18 percent, DBS Group rallied 1.20 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.16 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.54 percent, Keppel DC REIT skidded 0.91 percent, Keppel Ltd rose 0.15 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust declined 1.33 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust stumbled 2.02 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.07 percent, SATS gained 0.56 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 2.89 percent, SembCorp Industries and UOL Group both slumped 1.07 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.87 percent, SingTel improved 0.93 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.94 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.30 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 5.26 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 2.39 percent and Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened flat on Monday and hugged the line throughout most of the session before a late rally nudged them into the green at the close.

The Dow added 17.15 points or 0.04 percent to finish at a record 42,330.15, while the NASDAQ gained 69.58 points or 0.38 percent to close at 18,189.17 and the S&P 500 rose 24.31 points or 0.42 percent to end at a record 5,762.48.

Stocks initially came under pressure in reaction to remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who suggested the central bank will continue to lower interest rates but stressed the downward path for rates is not on a preset course.

Powell's remarks partly offset optimism the Fed will continue to lower interest rates aggressively in the coming months.

The Fed's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for November 6-7, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 65.3 percent chance the central bank will lower rates by 25 basis points and a 34.7 percent chance of another 50-basis point rate cut.

Oil futures settled flat on Monday as uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand from China weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.01 at $68.17 a barrel.