Singapore Stock Market May Extend Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 49 points or 1.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,235-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after days of selling as recession fears may already be priced in. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the properties and trusts, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index added 10.63 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 3,236.08 after trading between 3,225.95 and 3,246.18. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 928.8 million Singapore dollars. There were 304 gainers and 222 decliners.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment soared 2.26 percent, while City Developments jumped 0.99 percent, DBS Group fell 0.45 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.56 percent, Hongkong Land surged 3.25 percent, Keppel Corp improved 0.54 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 0.60 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gained 0.45 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation advanced 0.57 percent, SATS spiked 1.05 percent, SembCorp Industries was up 0.31 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slumped 0.89 percent, SingTel rose 0.38 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.56 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.74 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 2.94 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding retreated 2.17 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage, Comfort DelGro and Emperador were unchanged.

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

The Dow jumped 183.56 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 33,781.48, while the NASDAQ rallied 123.45 points or 1.13 percent to end at 11,082.00 and the S&P 500 added 29.59 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,963.51.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders picked up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the sell-off seen to start the week, which reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the economy.

Traders will be looking for signs of a slowdown in producer price inflation later today, as well as a reduction in inflation expectations amid concerns the Federal Reserve will need to push the economy into a prolonged recession in order to bring inflation down close to its 2 percent target.

The Labor Department reported that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly higher last week.

Crude oil showed a notable downturn over the course of the trading day on Thursday as traders remain concerned about the outlook for energy demand amid the possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery slid $0.55 or 0.8 percent to $71.46 a barrel.