Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 20 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,200-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index gained 10.94 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 3,197.96 after trading between 3,189.26 and 3,205.80.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT dropped 0.68 percent, while CapitaLand Investment spiked 1.33 percent, City Developments rose 0.15 percent, Comfort DelGro tumbled 1.40 percent, DBS Group perked 0.06 percent, Emperador rallied 0.99 percent, Keppel DC REIT soared 2.19 percent, Keppel Ltd gathered 0.14 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust gained 0.67 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.40 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.62 percent, SATS jumped 1.07 percent, Seatrium Limited advanced 0.89 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 2.99 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.26 percent, SingTel added 0.84 percent, Thai Beverage climbed 0.93 percent and Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Genting Singapore, Hongkong Land, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely stayed under water, although the NASDAQ managed to break barely into the green.

The Dow shed 157.85 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 37,525.16, while the NASDAQ rose 13.94 points or 0.09 percent to close at 14,857.71 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.04 points or 0.15 percent to end at 4,756.50.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on Monday's strong gains amid lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged later this month, traders have recently become increasingly skeptical about whether the central bank will cut rates in March.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in November.

Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday as rising geopolitical risks raised concerns about possible supply and trade disruptions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled higher by $1.47 at $72.24 a barrel.