Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 60 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,320-point plateau although investors may cash in on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower amid waning momentum and a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are expected to open to the downside.

The STI finished modestly higher again on Wednesday following gains from the financials, losses from the industrials and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index rose 7.75 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 3,318.87 after trading between 3,301.09 and 3,331.66.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT advanced 0.69 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rose 0.26 percent, City Developments lost 0.81 percent, Comfort DelGro shed 0.83 percent, DBS Group perked 0.03 percent, Emperador dropped 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 0.85 percent, Hongkong Land gathered 0.23 percent, Keppel Corp fell 0.51 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust jumped 1.12 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation improved 0.55 percent, SATS slumped 0.71 percent, SembCorp Industries retreated 1.37 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.27 percent, SingTel added 0.40 percent, Thai Beverage surged 2.31 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.07 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.94 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be inconsistent as the NASDAQ and S&P opened under pressure on Wednesday and remained that way throughout, while the Dow stayed mostly positive.

The Dow gained 80.34 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 33,482.72, while the NASDAQ tumbled 129.47 points or 1,07 percent to end at 11,996.86 and the S&P 500 sank 10.22 points or 0.25 percent to close at 4,090.38.

The uptick by the Dow was partly due to a strong gain by shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), with the healthcare giant surging by 4.5 percent after the company announced it has agreed to pay $8.9 billion over 25 years to settle outstanding claims.

Meanwhile, concerns about the economic outlook weighed on the NASDAQ and the S&P following the release of disappointing data.

Payroll processor ADP said that private sector employment increased less than expected in March. And the Institute for Supply Management said growth in U.S. service sector activity slowed much more than expected last month.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday as worries about economic slowdown outweighed data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.10 at $80.61 a barrel.