Renewed Support Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Monday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 75 points or 1.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 4,490-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on optimism that the end of the U.S. government shutdown in near. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead. The STI finished slightly lower following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues. For the day, the index slipped 4.11 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 4,488.13 after trading between 4,457.14 and 4,490.55. Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT slipped 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added 0.43 percent, DBS Group stumbled 1.29 percent, DFI Retail Group and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both gained 0.30 percent, Genting Singapore surged 3.36 percent, Hongkong Land shed 0.50 percent, Keppel DC REIT fell 0.42 percent, Keppel Ltd lost 0.49 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust spiked 0.99 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation soared 2.31 percent, SATS rallied 0.86 percent, Seatrium Limited jumped 0.93 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.16 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plunged 1.33 percent, SingTel slumped 0.65 percent, United Overseas Bank skidded 0.53 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.61 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plummeted 51.42 percent and CapitaLand Investment, City Developments, Comfort DelGro, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, UOL Group and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Monday and largely spent most of the sessions firmly in positive territory.

The Dow jumped 381.53 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 47,368.63, while the NASDAQ surged 522.64 points or 2.27 percent to close at 23,527.17 and the S&P 500 rallied 103.63 points or 1.54 percent to end at 6,832.43.

The strength on Wall Street came after the Senate voted to advance legislation to end the government shutdown, which recently became the longest in U.S. history. The Senate voted 60-40 in favor of a temporary funding bill, which would also reverse some of the recent mass federal layoffs.

Several Democratic Senators broke with party leaders in favor of moving forward with the legislation, as it does call for a vote on the extension of enhanced Obamacare tax credits.

The end of the shutdown would also lead to the resumption of the release of key U.S. economic data that has recently been withheld.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday on the prospects of the U.S. government shutdown coming to a close. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.31 or 0.52 percent at $60.06 per barrel.