Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,120-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with profit taking expected amid concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down, and the Asian markets are tipped to trend generally lower as well.

The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index improved 22.61 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 3,121.76 after trading between 3,112.01 and 3,126.21. Volume was 835.7 million shares worth 736.6 million Singapore dollars. There were 312 gainers and 164 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT advanced 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Investment and City Developments both rallied 1.06 percent, DBS Group collected 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 1.86 percent, Hongkong Land surged 1.65 percent, Keppel Corp soared 1.56 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust gained 0.56 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and SingTel both rose 0.38 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.58 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.07 percent, SATS shed 0.50 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.03 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.25 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 1.53 percent, United Overseas Bank spiked 1.42 percent, Wilmar International improved 0.25 percent, Yangzijiang Financial dropped 1.23 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Singapore Exchange, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages couldn't hold on to early gains, sinking as the day progressed to close firmly in the red.

The Dow tumbled 215.65 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 31,072.61, while the NASDAQ sank 92.37 points or 0.81 percent to end at 11,360.05 and the S&P 500 lost 32.31 points or 0.84 percent to close at 3,830.85.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels, while positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from Goldman Sachs (GS) and others.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders continued to worry about the economic outlook ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing a substantial deterioration in U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of July.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Monday with traders assessing crude supply levels amid concerns over gas supply from Russia. A weak dollar also contributed significantly to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended higher by $5.01 or 5.1 percent at $102.60 a barrel.