Singapore Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has ticked higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting just 6 points or 0.15 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,880-point plateau, although it may spin its wheels on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns over rising bond yields. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets also figure to open under pressure.

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

For the day, the index perked 0.05 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 3,882.55 after trading between 3,865.14 and 3,882.91.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT increased 0.78 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rose 0.40 percent, City Developments rallied 1.27 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.67 percent, DBS Group shed 0.56 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 1.16 percent, Keppel DC REIT improved 0.93 percent, Keppel Ltd jumped 1.34 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.85 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gained 0.52 percent, SATS added 0.67 percent, Seatrium Limited spiked 1.48 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 2.60 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.27 percent, SingTel advanced 1.05 percent, Thai Beverage soared 2.15 percent, Yangzijiang Financial dropped 0.69 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.84 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Genting Singapore and Wilmar International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and only got worse as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 816.80 points or 1.91 percent to finish at 41,860.44, while the NASDAQ dropped 270.07 points or 1.41 percent to close at 18,872.64 and the S&P 500 sank 95.85 points or 1.61 percent to end at 5,844.61.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of a continued increase by bond yields, with the 30-year bond yield climbing above 5 percent due to concerns a new U.S. tax bill could worsen the country's deficit.

President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill is one step closer to a full vote in the House of Representatives, with economists warning the proposal would add more than $2.5 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.

Treasury yields saw further upside after the Treasury Department revealed this month's auction of $16 billion worth of 20-year bonds attracted below average demand.

Crude oil futures fell under pressure Wednesday after a report released by the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude oil inventories unexpectedly increased last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery slid $0.46 to 0.7 percent to $61.57 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide Q1 numbers for gross domestic product later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 0.8 percent on quarter and an increase of3.8 percent on year. That follows the gain of 0.5 percent on quarter and 5.0 percent on year in the three months prior.