Singapore Bourse May Extend Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 75 points or 1.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,540-point plateau and it's expected to bounce higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat amid optimism about an end to the record-setting U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index jumped 54.07 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 4,542.20 after trading between 4,499.41 and 4,552.05.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT gained 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust climbed 1.29 percent, City Developments accelerated 2.96 percent, Comfort DelGro rose 0.68 percent, DBS Group vaulted 1.49 percent, DFI Retail Group spiked 2.99 percent, Genting Singapore surged 3.90 percent, Hongkong Land fell 0.33 percent, Keppel DC REIT advanced 1.26 percent, Keppel Ltd perked 0.40 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust expanded 1.37 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust increased 0.76 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.98 percent, SATS sank 0.57 percent, Seatrium Limited shed 0.46 percent, SembCorp Industries strengthened 1.73 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.73 percent, SingTel gathered 0.43 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 1.04 percent, UOL Group soared 3.20 percent, Wilmar International improved 1.21 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.94 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was up 0.30 percent and CapitaLand Investment, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is incongruous as the major averages opened mixed and ultimately finished the same way.

The Dow jumped 559.33 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 47,927.96, while the NASDAQ slumped 58.87 points or 0.25 percent to close at 23,468.30 and the S&P 500 rose 14.18 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,846.61.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets - especially the possibility of a tech bubble - following recent volatility.

However, valuation concerns continue to hang over the markets, as traders had largely shrugged off worries about the economic impact of the shutdown.

A sharp increase by the price of crude oil has also contributed to considerable strength among energy stocks, which are moving higher along with biotechnology and healthcare stocks.

On the other hand, semiconductor stocks have come under pressure, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 2.0 percent.