Singapore Bourse Overdue For Consolidation On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in seven straight sessions, improving more than 100 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 4,120-point plateau although it's expected to see profit taking on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with weakness expected from the oil, finance and property stocks, while the technology companies may offer support. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were also mostly soft and the Asian market figure to open in the red.

The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the property stocks and industrial issues, while the financial came in mixed.

For the day, the index rose 10.61 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 4,119.82 after trading between 4,109.76 and 4,129.77.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT gained 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Investment added 0.37 percent, City Developments eased 0.18 percent, DBS Group sank 0.43 percent, DFI Retail Group and Wilmar International both rose 0.34 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 0.68 percent, Keppel DC REIT expanded 0.90 percent, Keppel Ltd rallied 1.66 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust advanced 0.50 percent, SATS surged 3.85 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 2,83 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 1.20 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering accelerated 2.46 percent, SingTel dropped 0.49 percent, Thai Beverage strengthened 1.06 percent, United Overseas Bank fell 0.30 percent, UOL Group stumbled 1.32 percent, Yangzijiang Financial collected 0.56 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 2.61 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Hongkong Land, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and trended generally lower, remaining mixed at the close.

The Dow tumbled 436.36 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 44,023.29, while the NASDAQ gained 37.47 points or 0.18 percent to close at a record 20,677.80 and the S&P 500 sank 24,80 points or 0.40 percent to end at 6,243.76.

The uptick by the NASDAQ came amid strength in the semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index ended the session at its best closing level in a year.

Nvidia (NVDA) helped lead the sector higher, with the AI darling surging by 4.0 percent to a record closing high after indicating it will "soon" resume H20 AI chip sales to China.

On the other hand, housing stocks moved sharply lower on the day, resulting in a 3.3 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Oil service stocks also slumped amid a decrease by the price of crude oil, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 3.1 percent.

Crude oil price fell modestly on Tuesday as the previously predicted supply-side pressure from Russia due to President Donald Trump's sanctions waned with his 50-day ultimatum. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed down by $0.46 at $66.52 per barrel.