Win Streak May Continue For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 15 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,900-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly positive on a slightly improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index improved 9.50 points or 0.24 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,903.88 after moving as low as 3,880.57.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and Jardine Matheson both stumbled 2.29 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust increased 0.48 percent, CapitaLand Investment climbed 0.80 percent, City Developments soared 2.46 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.71 percent, DBS Group gained 0.47 percent, DFI Retail rose 0.38 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.73 percent, Hongkong Land fell 0.38 percent, Keppel Ltd lost 0.58 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust retreated 0.85 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.53 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.43 percent, SATS rallied 1.30 percent, Seatrium Limited spiked 1.97 percent, SembCorp Industries dropped 0.76 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slid 0.25 percent, SingTel accelerated 1.57 percent, Thai Beverage jumped 1.09 percent, UOL Group surged 2.73 percent, Wilmar International improved 0.66 percent, Yangzijiang Financial shed 0.70 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Keppel DC REIT, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but gave back almost off of their gains to finish mixed and flat.

The Dow dropped 91.90 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 42,427.74, while the NASDAQ gained 61.53 points or 0.32 percent to close at 19,460.49 and the S&P 500 perked 0.44 points or 0.01 percent to end at 5,970.81.

The lackluster performance followed the release of some weaker than expected U.S. economic data. While the data raised concerns about the strength of the economy, it also generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP reported much weaker than expected private sector job growth in May. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted in May.

However, the Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting later this month, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 95.6 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged.

Crude oil futures moved to the downside during trading on Wednesday, reflecting easing supply concerns as rains slowed the growth of blazes that had disrupted Canadian crude production. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery fell $0.56 or 0 .9 percent to $62.85 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will see April numbers for retail sales later today; in March, sales were down 2.8 percent on month and up 1.1 percent on year.