Singapore Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, gathering more than 100 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,375-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic amidst a lack of major catalysts. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses saw mild upside, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished barely higher on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, industrial issues and property stocks.

For the day, the index perked 2.81 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 3,373.98 after trading between 3,363.87 and 3,392.63.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT and Seatrium both retreated 1.40 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.49 percent, CapitaLand Investment improved 0.59 percent, City Developments climbed 1.23 percent, Comfort DelGro rallied 1.61 percent, Emperador advanced 0.99 percent, Frasers Logistics plummeted 3.17 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.84 percent, Keppel Corp surged 2.50 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.79 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust declined 1.32 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust plunged 2.31 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.61 percent, SATS soared 2.19 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 1.80 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.53 percent, Thai Beverage jumped 1.68 percent, Wilmar International added 0.52 percent, Yangzijiang Financial strengthened 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 1.99 percent and Genting Singapore, DBS Group and SingTel were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up slightly positive after a volatile session that saw the major averages bounce back and forth across the unchanged line throughout the day. The Dow climbed 100.57 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 35,559.86, while the NASDAQ added 29.37 points or 0.21 percent to close at 14,346.02 and the S&P 500 rose 6.76 points or 0.15 percent to end at 4,588.99.

Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they await the release of key economic data in the coming days, including the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

In U.S. economic news, MNI Indicators released a report showing Chicago-area business activity contracted at a slightly slower rate in the month of July.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Monday and the oil futures contract posted the biggest monthly gain in over a year amid signs of tight supply and optimism over increased demand in the U.S. and China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.22 or 1.5 percent at $81.80 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 16 percent in July.