Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 20 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,160-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Thursday.

The global forecast is mixed and flat amid a lack of catalysts, with expected weakness from the technology stocks likely offset by gains from the oil companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the properties and industrials.

For the day, the index added 19.25 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 3,160.72 after trading between 3,145.17 and 3,168.69.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT slid 0.37 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 1.02 percent, City Developments sank 0.67 percent, DBS Group rallied 1.28 percent, Emperador plummeted 4.17 percent, Hongkong Land spiked 1.55 percent, Keppel DC REIT tumbled 1.18 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.56 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.76 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.43 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 0.68 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 1.07 percent, SATS fell 0.39 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 2.17 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 1.99 percent, SingTel surged 3.77 percent, Thai Beverage skidded 0.99 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.59 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plunged 3.33 percent and Singapore Technologies Engineering, Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, Frasers Logistics, CapitaLand Investment, Comfort DelGro and Venture Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday and finished the same way, little changed.

The Dow added 37.83 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 39,043.32, while the NASDAQ sank 87.87 points or 0.54 percent to close at 16,177.77 and the S&P 500 fell 9.96 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5.165.31.

The pullback by the Nasdaq partly reflected weakness in the tech sector, with AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) slumping by 1.1 percent.

Overall trading activity remained subdued ahead of several key reports in the coming days, including producer prices, jobless claims, industrial production and retail sales.

Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while supply disruptions in Russia also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April rose $2.16 or 2.8 percent at $79.72 a barrel.