Singapore Bourse May Test Resistance At 4,300 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day slide in which it had fallen almost 40 points or 0.9 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,270-point plateau and it may see additional support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to at least open in similar fashion, although profit taking may be in order later in the day.

The STI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, industrial issues and trusts.

For the day, the index jumped 52.04 points or 1.23 percent to finish at the daily high of 4,272.76 after moving as low as 4,235.66.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT jumped 1.87 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust was up 0.45 percent, CapitaLand Investment rallied 2.55 percent, City Developments skyrocketed 7.09 percent, Comfort DelGro gathered 0.64 percent, DBS Group advanced 0.96 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.36 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.49 percent, Keppel DC REIT improved 1.31 percent, Keppel Ltd strengthened 1.68 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust rose 0.75 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust increased 1.01 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.87 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.36 percent, SATS accelerated 3.12 percent, Seatrium Limited gained 0.85 percent, SembCorp Industries picked up 0.47 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 3.23 percent, SingTel soared 3.57 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.89 percent, UOL Group expanded 1.56 percent, Wilmar International slumped 1.01 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 5.05 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell 0.34 percent and DFI Retail Group and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and largely spent the day in positive territory.

The Dow surged 463.66 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 44,922.27, while the NASDAQ added 31.24 points or 0.14 percent to close at a record 21,713.14 and the S&P 500 rose 20.82 points or 0.32 percent to end at 6,466.58, also a record.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve following Tuesday's consumer price inflation data.

With the consumer price inflation data largely coming in line with economist estimates, the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by a least a quarter point next month.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.8 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in September.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency projected oversupply in the market this year due to surging supply from oil producers. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.55 or 0.87 percent at $62.62 per barrel.