Singapore Stock Market Poised To Extend Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,270-point plateau and it's expected to add to its winnings on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index advanced 31.62 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 3,271.28 after trading between 3,245.09 and 3,278.13.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT jumped 1.11 percent, while CapitaLand Investment climbed 1.10 percent, City Developments gained 0.37 percent, Comfort DelGro improved 0.81 percent, DBS Group and Mapletree Industrial Trust both rallied 1.37 percent, Genting Singapore increased 0.56 percent, Hongkong Land skyrocketed 4.75 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.13 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.60 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust soared 1.90 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation added 0.49 percent, SATS shed 0.34 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 1.86 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering advanced 0.91 percent, SingTel surged 2.32 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.48 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.24 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.47 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage, Emperador, DFI Retail Group and Keppel DC REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Tuesday, faded as the day progressed but still finished in the green.

The Dow climbed 103.60 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 34,108.64, while the NASDAQ jumped 113.08 points or 1.01 percent to close at 11,256.81 and the S&P 500 gained 29.09 points or 0.73 percent to end at 4,019.65.

The early rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. inched up less than expected in November.

Buying interest waned over the course of the morning, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant beats ahead of the Fed's rate decision later today. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rate by another 50 basis points, with traders likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for future rate hikes.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday due to concerns about supply disruptions amid the ongoing shutdown of the Keystone pipeline following a massive leak last week, while a weak dollar also supported oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $2.22 or 3 percent at $75.39 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide Q3 data for unemployment later this morning; in the previous three months, the jobless rate was 2.1 percent.