Singapore Bourse May Hand Back Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday halted the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,135-point plateau although it may move back to the downside on Friday.

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

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

For the day, the index rose 5.60 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 3,135.32 after trading between 3,127.01 and 3,150.26.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT added 0.74 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust sank 0.55 percent, CapitaLand Investment lost 0.33 percent, City Developments tumbled 2.52 percent, Comfort DelGro rallied 1.53 percent, DBS Group perked 0.09 percent, Genting Singapore gained 0.58 percent, Hongkong Land soared 1.84 percent, Keppel Corp was up 0.32 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust strengthened 1.50 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rose 0.46 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust climbed 1.30 percent, SembCorp Industries and Singapore Technologies Engineering both improved 0.79 percent, SingTel jumped 1.69 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.84 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 3.13 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding stumbled 2.00 percent and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, SATS, Seatrium Limited, Thai Beverage, Emperador and Venture Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened flat on Thursday and hugged the line for the first half of the day before turning lower to end solidly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 220.33 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 33,891.94, while the NASDAQ sank 128.97 points or 0.94 percent to end at 13,521.45 and the S&P 500 lost 35.43 points or 0.81 percent to close at 4,347.35.

Stocks showed a notable drop in early afternoon trading after the Treasury Department revealed this month's auction of $24 billion worth of 30-year bonds attracted below average demand, triggering a surge in treasury yields.

The markets saw further downside as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addressed the outlook for U.S. monetary policy, saying the central bank "will not hesitate" to resume raising interest rates if it becomes appropriate.

Participating in a policy panel in Washington, D.C., Powell acknowledged that U.S. inflation has slowed over the past year but pointed out it remains well above the Fed's 2 percent target.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after two straight sessions of decline on concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December rose $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $75.74 a barrel, due to some short-covering and bargain hunting.