Singapore Bourse May Extend Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Thursday's Labor Day holiday, the Singapore stock market had ended the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 25 points or 0.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,830-point plateau and it's likely to open to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from the oil and technology companies in particular. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and property stocks, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index improved 27.33 points or 0.72 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,832.51 after moving as low as 3,801.73.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.46 percent, while CapitaLand Investment accelerated 2.61 percent, City Developments advanced 1.02 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.65 percent, DBS Group collected 0.88 percent, Hongkong Land surged 4.04 percent, Keppel DC REIT soared 3.85 percent, Keppel Ltd improved 0.92 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 1.06 percent, SATS strengthened 1.08 percent, Seatrium Limited sank 0.52 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.30 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering jumped1.23 percent, SingTel increased 0.53 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 0.99 percent, Wilmar International rallied 1.32 percent, Yangzijiang Financial spiked 2.90 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.45 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session, although they came well off the day's highs.

The Dow improved 83.60 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 40,752.96, while the NASDAQ rallied 264.40 points or 1.52 percent to close at 17,710.74 and the S&P 500 added 35.08 points or 0.63 percent to end at 5,604.14.

The early rally on Wall Street came in reaction to upbeat earnings news from software giant Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META), both of which exceeded expectations.

Buying interest waned as the day progressed, however, as traders digested some disappointing economic data, including a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for jobless benefits rose much more than expected last week.

Crude oil saw considerable volatility Thursday but moved sharply higher after President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on any country that purchases Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped $1.03 or 1.8 percent to $59.24 a barrel.