Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting 7 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,510-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on a declining outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index perked 6.65 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 4,511.87 after trading between 4,504.00 and 4,526.93.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT rose 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.43 percent, CapitaLand Investment slumped 0.76 percent, City Developments rallied 1.25 percent, Comfort DelGro jumped 1.38 percent, DBS Group collected 0.28 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 0.67 percent, Hongkong Land and Seatrium Limited both skidded 0.47 percent, Keppel DC REIT strengthened 1.29 percent, Keppel Ltd eased 0.10 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust vaulted 0.69 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation added 0.55 percent, SATS stumbled 1.17 percent, SembCorp Industries improved 0.32 percent Singapore Technologies Engineering dipped 0.23 percent, SingTel retreated 1.03 percent, Thai Beverage tanked 1.06 percent, United Overseas Bank perked 0.18 percent, UOL Group gathered 0.35 percent, Wilmar International declined 0.90 percent, Yangzijiang Financial expanded 1.01 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 1.19 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and DFI Retail Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday and finished deeply under water.

The Dow stumbled 386.51 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 45,752.26, while the NASDAQ plummeted 486.18 points or 2.15 percent to close at 22,078.05 and the S&P 500 dropped 103.40 points or 1.56 percent to end at 6,538.76.

The early rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to highly anticipated earnings news from market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter results and providing upbeat guidance - although the stock tumbled later in the day.

The subsequent downturn by the broader markets reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the release of the Labor Department's long-delayed jobs report for September. While the report showed an unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate, job growth in September far exceeded economist estimates.

The mixed data further eroded confidence that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another quarter point in December. While CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances of a rate cut next month have risen to 39.8 percent from 30.1 percent on Wednesday, that figure is down sharply from 98.8 percent a month ago.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday as investors assessed reports of renewed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war ahead of the U.S. deadline. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.27 or 0.44 percent at $59.18 per barrel.