Singapore Bourse Poised To Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, collecting almost 15 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,100-point plateau and it's expected to see further upside on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were solidly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index picked up 1.95 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 3,104.26 after trading between 3,095.70 and 3,108.01.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT fell 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.53 percent, CapitaLand Investment sank 0.66 percent, City Developments shed 0.63 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.72 percent, DBS Group and SembCorp Industries both climbed 0.79 percent, Emperador jumped 0.97 percent, Hongkong Land slumped 0.91 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.45 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.43 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.08 percent, SATS improved 0.37 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 2.78 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dipped 0.26 percent, SingTel rallied 0.85 percent, Wilmar International and DFI Retail both dropped 0.87 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tanked 1.61 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.34 percent and Genting Singapore, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages were flat for most of the day but surged in the afternoon following the Federal Reserve's rate decision.

The Dow surged 512.30 points or 1.40 percent to finish at a record 37,090.24, while the NASDAQ rallied 200.57 points or 1.38 percent to end at 14,733.96 and the S&P 500 gained 63.39 points or 1.37 percent to close at 4,707.09.

The surge on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged while also confirming plans to pivot to cutting rates next year.

The accompanying statement said the decision came as economic growth has slowed from its strong pace in the third quarter, while inflation has eased over the past year.

The projections provided by the Fed also suggest the central bank will begin cutting rates next year, with the median forecast indicating rates will be lowered to 4.6 percent by the end of 2024.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.86 or 1.3 percent at $69.47 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release Q3 numbers for unemployment later today; in the previous three months, the jobless rate was 2.0 percent.