Singapore Bourse Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 45 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,235-point plateau although hit may finally stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over inflation, demand and interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials and properties, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 20.18 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 3,234.90 after trading between 3,225.62 and 3,256.24.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT added 0.72 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 2.07 percent, CapitaLand Investment lost 0.54 percent, City Developments declined 1.29 percent, Comfort DelGro plummeted 2.46 percent, DBS Group tumbled 1.32 percent, Emperador climbed 0.99 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 0.97 percent, Hongkong Land fell 0.42 percent, Keppel Corp slumped 0.91 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.58 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.85 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust retreated 1.18 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.80 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 1.63 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.28 percent, SingTel slid 0.42 percent, Thai Beverage improved 0.79 percent, United Overseas Bank skidded 0.94 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.25 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.52 percent and SATS, Yangzijiang Financial and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily upward throughout the session, with all finishing firmly in the green.

The Dow surged 341.75 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,003.57, while the NASDAQ advanced 83.50 points or 0.73 percent to end at 11,462.98 and the S&P 500 gained 29.96 points or 0.76 percent to close at 3,981.35.

The surge by the Dow reflected a spike by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud-based software company soaring 11.5 percent on better than expected Q4 results and upbeat guidance.

The markets also rebounded on comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic, who said he strongly favors raising interest rates in only quarter-point increments.

Traders largely shrugged off a continue surge in treasury yields, which followed the release of a Labor Department report unexpectedly showing a modest decline in initial jobless claims last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session as optimism about higher demand from China outweighed concerns about inflation and interest rate hikes. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April settled at $78.16 a barrel, gaining $0.47 or 0.6 percent.

Closer to home, Singapore will release January figures for retail sales later today; in December, sales were up 1.3 percent on month and 7.4 percent on year.