Singapore Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 15 points or 0.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,150-point plateau and it may open under pressure on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain ahead of the FOMC's rate decision and statement later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and properties.

For the day, the index gained 9.73 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 3,150.04 after trading between 3,142.00 and 3,159.94.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT added 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust improved 0.51 percent, CapitaLand Investment gained 0.68 percent, City Developments fell 0.32 percent, DBS Group eased 0.22 percent, Emperador and Genting Singapore both skidded 0.99 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 1.62 percent, Keppel DC REIT declined 1.17 percent, Keppel Ltd surged 4.23 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust soared 3.60 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust spiked 2.54 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust jumped 1.96 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation lost 0.47 percent, SATS dropped 0.72 percent, Seatrium Limited tumbled 2.78 percent, SembCorp Industries skyrocketed 5.36 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slumped 1.06 percent, SingTel advanced 0.83 percent, Thai Beverage climbed 0.96 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.60 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rose 0.60 percent and Comfort DelGro was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday; the Dow turned higher and finished in the green, while the NASDAQ remained under water throughout the session and the S&P bounced back and forth across the line before ending slightly in the red.

The Dow climbed 133.86 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 38,467.31, while the NASDAQ dropped 118.15 points or 0.76 percent to close at 15,509.90 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.96 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,924.97.

The pullback by the NASDAQ came as traders cashed in on the recent strength in the tech sector ahead of the release of quarterly results from the likes of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), software giant Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META).

Uncertainty ahead of today's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement may also have inspired traders to book profits. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted an unexpected increase in job openings in December. Also, the Conference Board reported a continued improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in January.

Crude oil prices moved sharply on Tuesday, largely offsetting the steep drop in the previous session after the International Monetary Fund raised its global growth forecast for 2024. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery jumped $1.04 or 1.4 percent to $77.82 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release Q4 data for unemployment later today; in the three months prior, the jobless rate was 2.0 percent.