Singapore Bourse Tipped To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 55 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,125-point plateau although it's due for support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, supported by bargain hunting and crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were modestly higher and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and properties, while the industrials came in mixed.

For the day, the index lost 8.61 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,125.68 after trading between 3,120.05 and 3,132.33.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT skidded 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust jumped 1.02 percent, CapitaLand Investment tanked 1.05 percent, City Developments dropped 0.34 percent, DBS Group slumped 0.63 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.31 percent, Keppel DC REIT and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both gained 0.62 percent, Keppel Ltd advanced 0.85 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.23 percent, SATS spiked 1.42 percent, SembCorp Industries plummeted 1.94 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.80 percent, SingTel plunged 1.68 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 0.98 percent, Wilmar International rallied 0.92 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Emperador, Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, Seatrium Limited, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher but also spent much of the day in the red before a late rally nudged them all back into positive territory.

The Dow climbed 141.24 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 38,521.36, while the NASDAQ rose 11.32 points or 0.07 percent to close at 15,609.00 and the S&P 500 added 11.42 points or 0.23 percent to end at 4,954.23.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets after recent volatility.

While the major averages climbed well off Monday's early lows, fading optimism the Fed will lower interest rates in March continued to hang over the markets.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said the central bank is unlikely to cut rates in March and the chances of a rate cut next month have fallen to just 19.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session after the Energy Information Administration's said oil inventories may drop by 0.8 million barrels per day in the current quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.53 or 0.73 percent at $73.31 a barrel.