Singapore Stock Market Tipped To Extend Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 55 points or 1.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 2,985-point plateau and it may see additional support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over falling treasury yields and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials and trusts, weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the industrials.

For the day, the index gained 14.20 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 2,984.15 after trading between 2,968.87 and 3,007.93. Volume was 1.5 billion shares worth 1.3 billion Singapore dollars. There were 288 decliners and 266 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rallied 1.62 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust surged 4.60 percent, CapitaLand Investment tumbled 2.85 percent, City Developments dipped 0.14 percent, Comfort DelGro retreated 1.57 percent, DBS Group gained 1.14 percent, Genting Singapore added 1.28 percent, Hongkong Land plummeted 8.06 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.76 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust jumped 1.94 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust advanced 1.41 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust and SingTel both spiked 2.10 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 1.47 percent, SATS plunged 3.42 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.36 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering soared 2.24 percent, Thai Beverage improved 0.88 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.54 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.85 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tanked 2.90 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding declined 2.46 percent and Emperador was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid for the third straight session as the major averages opened higher and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

For the day, the index spiked 337.12 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,836.74, while the NASDAQ surged 246.50 points or 2.25 percent to close at 11,199.12 and the S&P 500 jumped 61.77 points or 1.63 percent to end at 3,859.11.

The extended rally on Wall Street came amid a sharp pullback by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note showing a steep drop after ending the previous session at a 14-year closing high.

The pullback by treasury yields came as traders continue to express optimism the Federal Reserve will signal a slower pace of interest rate hikes following its meeting next week.

The markets also benefited from a positive reaction to the latest earnings news, with General Motors (GM) and Coca-Cola (KO) posting strong gains after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, buoyed by a weaker dollar and concerns about supply after Saudi Arabia's energy minister commented that energy stocks were being used as a mechanism to manipulate markets. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for December ended higher by $0.74 or 0.9 percent at $85.32 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide September numbers for industrial production later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.1 percent on month and 1.3 percent on year after gaining 2.0 percent on month and 0.5 percent on year in August.