Win Streak May End For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, gathering more than 100 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Straits Tines Index now rests just beneath the 3,890-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat and directionless on conflicting leads over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The STI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and industrial issues, while the property sector was soft.

For the day, the index jumped 58.81 points or 1.54 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,886.98 after moving as low as 3,832.61.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slumped 1.52 percent, while CapitaLand Investment tumbled 2.71 percent, City Developments lost 0.77 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.69 percent, DBS Group rallied 2.11 percent, DFI Retail Group retreated 1.72 percent, Genting Singapore jumped 1.30 percent, Hongkong Land fell 0.46 percent, Keppel DC REIT skidded 0.89 percent, Keppel Ltd climbed 0.86 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.82 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Seatrium Limited both slid 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust shed 0.78 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation soared 4.15 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 2.17 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.21 percent, SingTel gained 0.65 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 0.88 percent, Venture Corporation eased 0.31 percent, Wilmar International declined 1.61 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 4.41 percent and Emperador. SATS and Yangzijiang Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests little movement as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, bounced back and forth across the line all day before ending mixed and largely unchanged.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following the release of mixed U.S. jobs data.

While payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector job growth slowed more than expected in December, the Labor Department said weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in almost 11 months.

While the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting later in the day, they did not provide much insight into the outlook for interest rates other than to suggest officials plan to take a "careful approach" to future decisions.

Oil futures closed lower on Wednesday as a sharp increase in gasoline stockpiles and a stronger dollar weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.93 or 1.25 percent at $73.32 a barrel.