Singapore Bourse May Tick Higher Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, advancing almost 50 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,925-point plateau and it's expected to open slightly to the upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher amidst a lack of strong catalysts. The European and U.S. markets finished barely higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index gained 20.71 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 3,925.56 after trading between 3,895.99 and 3,929.81.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 0.51 percent, while CapitaLand Investment tanked 1.97 percent, City Developments, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Thai Beverage all slumped 0.98 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.74 percent, DBS Group jumped 1.78 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.92 percent, Hongkong Land stumbled 2.90 percent, Keppel DC REIT slid 0.47 percent, Keppel Ltd lost 0.73 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.84 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust shed 0.81 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation advanced 1.02 percent, SATS spiked 1.82 percent, Seatrium Limited was down 0.39 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 1.66 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering surged 2/20 percent, SingTel gained 0.30 percent, Wilmar International eased 0.31 percent, Yangzijiang Financial dropped 0.93 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 1.29 percent and Emperador and DFI Retail Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is flat to higher as the major averages spent most of Tuesday in the shallow red before a late push nudged them barely into positive territory at the close.

The Dow added 10.26 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 44,556.34, while the NASDAQ rose 14.49 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,041.26 and the S&P gained 14.95 points or 0.24 percent to end at a record 6,139.58.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders remained on the sidelines following the Presidents' Day holiday on Monday.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York noted a turnaround by regional manufacturing activity in February. Also, the National Association of Home Builders said homebuilder confidence in the U.S. has unexpectedly deteriorated in February.

Oil prices moved higher on Tuesday on supply concerns after Ukraine launched a drone attack on an export pipeline in Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $71.85 a barrel, gaining $1.11, or 1.57 percent.