Singapore Shares May See Profit Taking On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in five straight sessions, collecting more than 40 points or 1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,935-point plateau although it may be due for consolidation on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of key upcoming talks between the United States and China. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The STI finished barely higher on Monday following gains from the retailers and mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues. For the day, the index was up 2.03 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,936.32 after trading between 3,930.76 and 3,945.92. Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and CapitaLand Investment both declined 0.39 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.47 percent, City Developments stumbled 1.14 percent, Comfort DelGro improved 0.71 percent, DBS Group advanced 0.82 percent, DFI Retail surged 5.26 percent, Hongkong Land added 0.37 percent, Keppel DC REIT fell 0.45 percent, Keppel Ltd dropped 0.70 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.55 percent, SATS shed 0.64 percent, SembCorp Industries retreated 0.88 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering tumbled 1.01 percent, SingTel slumped 0.77 percent, Yangzijiang Financial sank 0.68 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was down 0.44 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, Seatrium Limited and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is pedestrian as the major averages opened lower on Monday, moved into the green by midday but faded going into the close to end mixed and little changed.

The Dow dipped 1.11 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 42,761.76, while the NASDAQ added 61.28 points or 0.31 percent to close are 19,591.24 and the S&P 500 perked 5.52 points or 0.09 percent to end at 6,005.88.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders awaited any news of U.S.-China trade talks that in London later today that could help ease trade tensions between the two superpowers. While most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, semiconductor stocks moved sharply higher on the day, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.0 percent to its best closing level in over three months.

Crude oil rose on Monday due to hopes sparked by US-China trade talks and that the nearing summer travel season may boost energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery settled at $65.29 per barrel, up 71 cents, the highest since April 3.