Singapore Stock Market May Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 130 points or 2.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 5,260-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower as sinking oil prices may be offset by interest rate concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index jumped 79.42 points or 1.53 percent to finish at 5,258.59 after trading between 5,213.11 and 5,276.26.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened under water on Tuesday and stayed that way, although stocks came well off of their daily lows later in the day.

The Dow shed 157.86 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 52,231.89, while the NASDAQ sank 187.26 points or 0.74 percent to end at 25,065.88 and the S&P 500 lost 29.01 points or 0.38 percent to close at 7,520.93.

The weakness on Wall Street followed the release of closely watched Labor Department data showing that consumer prices increased 0.4 percent in October, more than the 0.3 percent that was expected.

The hotter-than-expected inflation data led to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next month. CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently suggests an 85.9 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by a quarter-point at its December meeting.

Stocks came off their daily lows later in the day thanks to continued downward pressure on crude oil prices - which tumbled again as concerns of U.S.-Iran re-escalation faded after U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to maintain a status quo in the U.S.-Iran crisis. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.97 or 1.12 percent at $85.88 per barrel.