Renewed Consolidation Anticipated For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen almost 40 points or 1.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,220-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index perked 3.43 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 3,223.66 after trading between 3,205.19 and 3,232.25.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT added 0.73 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.50 percent, CapitaLand Investment slid 0.30 percent, City Developments skidded 0.87 percent, Comfort DelGro soared 1.74 percent, DBS Group and Jardine Matheson both gained 0.64 percent, Emperador climbed 0.97 percent, Hongkong Land rose 0.50 percent, Keppel Corp jumped 1.52 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.50 percent, SATS retreated 1.12 percent, Seatrium advanced 0.78 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 4.47 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering tumbled 1.35 percent, SingTel dropped 0.80 percent, Wilmar International and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both sank 0.75 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.49 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages opened lower again on Wednesday and largely stayed that way, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 102.35 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 33,951.52, while the NASDAQ tumbled 165.10 points or 1.21 percent to close at 13,502.20 and the S&P 500 shed 23.02 points or 0.52 percent to end at 4,365.69.

Renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the weakness on Wall Street following remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Powell reiterated the Fed is likely to continue raising interest rates in an effort to contain stubbornly elevated inflation.

The Fed left rates unchanged last week, but the central bank's latest projections suggest it plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6 percent by the end of 2023. If the Fed decided to revert to its recent quarter-point increases, the forecast suggests the central bank will raise rates two more times this year.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday amid hopes about the outlook for demand in the U.S. and forecasts for a drawdown in U.S. crude stocks last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.34 at $72.53 a barrel, recovering from a low of $70.80.