Singapore Shares May Inch Higher On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 20 points or 0.6 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,215-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher ahead of key data points this week. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index eased 2.27 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 3.215.99 after trading between 3,210.35 and 3,223.53.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment shed 0.37 percent, Comfort DelGro improved 0.68 percent, DBS Group perked 0.14 percent, Emperador stumbled 1.19 percent, Genting Singapore jumped 1.68 percent, Hongkong Land and DFI Retail both slumped 0.98 percent, Keppel Ltd sank 0.41 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 0.67 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.07 percent, SATS skidded 0.78 percent, Seatrium Limited climbed 1.19 percent, SembCorp Industries lost 0.36 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.25 percent, SingTel gained 0.42 percent, Wilmar International added 0.58 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.59 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, City Developments, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Keppel DC REIT, Frasers Logistics and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages were fairly volatile on Monday but finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow dipped 11.24 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 38,892.80, while the NASDAQ rose 5.43 points or 0.03 percent to close at 16,253.80 and the S&P 500 eased 1.95 points or 0.04 percent to end at 5,202.39.

The choppy trading on the day came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched inflation data later in the week.

The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates, as Federal Reserve officials have repeatedly said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before cutting rates.

Wednesday will also see the release of the minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting, which could also shed additional light on officials' thinking on rates.

Oil prices drifted lower on Monday amid slightly easing geopolitical tensions after Israel removed its troops from Southern Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down $0.48 or 0.55 percent at $86.43 a barrel.