Renewed Selling Pressure Tipped For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 10 points or 0.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,300-point plateau although it may head south again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher as the financials, properties and industrials all ended mostly in the green.

For the day, the index gained 28.95 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 3,305.67 after trading between 3,291.04 and 3,343.47.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT strengthened 1.47 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust increased 1.00 percent, CapitaLand Investment advanced 1.08 percent, City Developments fell 0.51 percent, DBS Group soared 2.26 percent, Hongkong Land rose 0.63 percent, Keppel Corp gained 0.69 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust gathered 0.59 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust was up 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust spiked 1.87 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 1.60 percent, SembCorp Industries improved 1.18 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering jumped 1.48 percent, SingTel slumped 0.79 percent, Thai Beverage surged 2.90 percent, United Overseas Bank lost 0.55 percent, Wilmar International added 0.72 percent, Yangzijiang Financial climbed 1.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.63 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Comfort DelGro and SATS were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, eventually ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow dropped 112.96 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 33,517.65, while the NASDAQ gained 66.36 points or 0.63 percent to close at 10,635.65 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.99 points or 0.08 percent to end at 3,892.09.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was solid after bond yields dropped amid bets the Federal Reserve will slow down the pace of its interest rate hikes in the coming months.

Stocks pared gains after comments from Fed officials that the central bank might raise rates to somewhere above 5 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Monday, gaining for a third straight session amid hopes of increased demand - while a weak dollar also helped to support oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $0.86 or 1.2 percent at $74.63 a barrel.