Singapore Bourse May Test Resistance At 4,900 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Monday snapped the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 20 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 4,870-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the financials and plantations were offset by weakness from the properties and industrials.

For the day, the index added 26.42 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 4,868.69 after trading between 4,830.52 and 4,871.86.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT added 0.79 percent, while CapitaLand Investment sank 0.35 percent, City Developments plunged 4.76 percent, DBS Group rallied 1.21 percent, DFI Retail Group slumped 1.07 percent, Genting Singapore jumped 1.50 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 4.09 percent, Keppel Ltd advanced 0.99 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 0.58 percent, SATS shed 0.28 percent, Seatrium Limited dropped 0.84 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.17 percent, Singapore Exchange surged 2.88 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering vaulted 1.19 percent, SingTel soared 1.61 percent, Thai Beverage climbed 1.14 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.53 percent, UOL Group plummeted 5.24 percent, Wilmar International spiked 1.58 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.26 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Keppel DC REIT and Singapore Airlines were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day, snapping a four-day losing streak.

The Dow jumped 387.94 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 46,946.41, while the NASDAQ rallied 268.82 points or 1.22 percent to end at 22,374.18 and the S&P 500 spiked 67.19 points or 1.01 percent to close at 6,699.38.

The rebound on Wall Street came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil after President Donald Trump called on other countries to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude oil prices slipped Monday as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz showed mild signs of easing. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down $5.38 or 5.45 percent at $93.33 per barrel.

The pullback by oil prices helped ease recent inflation concerns, although the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets in the coming days.

In U.S. economic news, the Federal Reserve said that industrial production in the U.S. increased slightly more than expected in February.

Closer to home, Singapore will release February figures for non-oil domestic exports later today; in January, NODX was up 0.7 percent on month and 9.3 percent on year.