Singapore Bourse May Crack Resistance At 3,200 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in five straight sessions, improving more than 70 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,175-point plateau and it's expected to extend its winning streak on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on encouraging inflation data and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The STI finished slightly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financials, properties and industrials.

For the day, the index added 7.68 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 3,173.18 after trading between 3,152.49 and 3,180.57. Volume was 1.57 billion shares worth 1.13 billion Singapore dollars. There were 257 gainers and 251 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gained 0.39 percent, while City Developments tumbled 1.79 percent, DBS Group lost 0.37 percent, Genting Singapore improved 0.62 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.48 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.28 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.63 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust climbed 0.67 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.08 percent, SATS plummeted 6.25 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.60 percent, SingTel surged 3.14 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.24 percent, Wilmar International fell 025 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.47 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Investment, SembCorp Industries, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Emperador and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages saw their best performance in two years, opening sharply higher Thursday and continuing to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow skyrocketed 1,201.43 points or 3.70 percent to finish at 33,715.37, while the NASDAQ exploded for 760.97 points or 7.35 percent to close at 11,114.15 and the S&P 500 surged 207.80 points or 5.54 percent to end at 3,956.37.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a report from the Labor Department showing a smaller than expected monthly increase in consumer prices and a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of price growth.

The data suggests the Federal Reserve's efforts to contain inflation are having an effect, reinforcing recent optimism the central bank will slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, rebounding after three straight days of losses as the dollar fell on the better than expected U.S. inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.64 or 0.8 percent at $86.47 a barrel.