Singapore Stock Market May Reverse Wednesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Wednesday snapped the seven-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 200 points or 4.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,450-point plateau although it may see renewed support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates, and on support from technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mostly up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks. For the day, the index shed 15.96 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 4,456.30 after trading between 4,446.77 and 4,469.92. Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT advanced 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.42 percent, CapitaLand Investment sank 0.37 percent, City Developments gathered 0.28 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.68 percent, DBS Group tumbled 0.97 percent, DFI Retail Group jumped 1.52 percent, Genting Singapore slumped 0.69 percent, Keppel DC REIT dropped 0.42 percent, Keppel Ltd stumbled 1.18 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 0.68 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust declined 0.78 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.06 percent, SATS gained 0.57 percent, Seatrium Limited retreated 0.81 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.10 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.22 percent, SingTel lost 0.24 percent, Thai Beverage improved 1.05 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.03 percent, UOL Group shed 0.25 percent, Wilmar International rallied 1.40 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 1.99 percent nd Hongkong Land, Yangzijiang Financial, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is fairly positive as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but moved generally higher through the day, although the Dow slipped back under water at the close.

The Dow eased 1.20 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 46,601.78. while the NASDAQ jumped 255.01 points or 1.12 percent to close at 23,043.38 and the S&P 500 gained 39.13 points or 0.58 percent to end at 6,753.72.

The strength on Wall Street reflected a notable advance by shares of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which surged to a record high on reports of increased demand.

Stocks saw continued strength even after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September revealed participants expressed a range of views about the likely future path of monetary policy.

Most judged that it likely would be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of this year, the Fed said, although some noted financial conditions warrant a cautious approach in the consideration of future policy changes.

Crude oil surged on Wednesday, extending gains from the past two sessions after OPEC said it would affect only a modest hike in production next month. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.89 or 1.44 percent at $62.62 per barrel.