Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Wednesday's National Day holiday, the Singapore stock market had moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 20 points or 0.76 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,315-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of key inflation data from the United States. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the REITs and financials, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index perked 3.92 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,313.79 after trading between 3,305.75 and 3,320.16.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT improved 0.73 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 3.00 percent, CapitaLand Investment shed 0.61 percent, City Developments retreated 1.25 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.15 percent, Emperador advanced 0.97 percent, Genting Singapore lost 0.54 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.97 percent, Keppel Corp sank 0.56 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust gained 0.63 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.90 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust strengthened 1.22 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 1.08 percent, SATS declined 0.73 percent, Seatrium Limited fell 0.74 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 2.46 percent, SingTel slipped 0.41 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rallied 1.21 percent and Singapore Technologies Engineering, Thai Beverage and Wilmar International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday before heading south shortly thereafter; they made back some ground as the day progressed but still finished solidly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 191.13 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 35,123.36, while the NASDAQ dropped 162.31 points or 1.17 percent to close at 13.722.02 and the S&P 500 sank 31.67 points or 0.70 percent to end at 4,467.71.

The lower close on Wall Street came as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of a key report on consumer price inflation later today.

Traders will be looking for the report to reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month; CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.5 percent chance the Fed will keep rates steady in September.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, extending recent gains as output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia continued to raise concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery jumped $1.48 pr 1.8 percent to $84.40 a barrel.