Singapore Shares May See Additional Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market moved higher again on Monday, one session after ending the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 90 points or 2.4 percent. The Straits Time Index now sits just above the 3,935-point plateau and it's likely to extend its gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from the technology stocks and oil companies. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and properties, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index rose 9.88 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 3,936.33 after trading between 3,920.62 and 3,947.63.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust soared 1.92 percent, while CapitaLand Investment spiked 1.50 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.69 percent, DBS Group rose 0.40 percent, DFI Retail surged 4.00 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 0.93 percent, Keppel DC REIT and Seatrium Limited both gained 0.46 percent, Keppel Ltd perked 0.15 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 0.80 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.48 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.47 percent, SATS improved 0.66 percent, SembCorp Industries slumped 0.79 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.30 percent, SingTel fell 0.29 percent, Wilmar International increased 0.61 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.38 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 2.83 percent and Thai Beverage, Emperador, Mapletree Logistics Trust, City Developments and Venture Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 597.97 points or 1.42 percent to finish at 42,583.32, while the NASDAQ rallied 404.54 points or 2.27 percent to close at 18,188.59 and the S&P 500 gained 100.01 points or 1.76 percent to end at 5,767.57.

The support on Wall Street came on reports that President Donald Trump may hold back some of the reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2.

Semiconductor and networking stocks had a very good outing. Shares from steel, banking, retail and airline sectors too closed mostly higher.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday after Trump announced a 25 percent secondary tariff on countries purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled higher by $0.83 or 1.22 percent at $69.11 a barrel.