Singapore Stock Market May Add To Its Winnings On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day slide in which it had dropped more than 35 points or 1.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,115-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the industrials and mixed performances from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index gained 18.58 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 3,114.92 after trading between 3,093.31 and 3,119.60,

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.53 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rallied 1.30 percent, City Developments advanced 0.96 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.75 percent, DBS Group collected 0.82 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.54 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.60 percent, Keppel Corp improved 0.93 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust gathered 0.63 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 0.71 percent, SATS slumped 1.09 percent, Seatrium Limited increased 0.92 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.19 percent, SingTel jumped 1.78 percent, Wilmar International perked 0.27 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rose 0.68 percent and Emperador, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Thai Beverage, DFI Retail, Keppel DC REIT and Ascendas REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained in the green throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 184.74 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 35,273.03, while the NASDAQ gained 65.88 points or 0.46 percent to end at 14,265.86 and the S&P 500 rose 18.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 4,556.62.

The strength on Wall Street came as continued optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to renewed buying interest following the previous day's pullback.

While the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting failed to provide any indications the central bank plans to cut interest rates in the near future, CME Group's FedWatch Tool suggests the next move will be a rate cut in mid-2024.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods pulled back by much more than expected in October.

Crude oil futures settled lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in crude inventory in the U.S., and after OPEC postponed a key meeting by four days. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.67 or 0.86 percent at $77.10 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release October fata for consumer prices and industrial production later today. In September, overall inflation was up 0.5 percent on month and 4.1 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 3.00 percent. Industrial production was up 10.7 percent on month and down 2.1 percent on year.