Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, improving more than 60 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 4,075-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with support expected from airline, steel and financial stocks. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index improved 17.88 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 4,075.70 after trading between 4,061.48 and 4,080.00.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.92 percent, while CapitaLand Investment, DBS Group and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT all were up 0.37 percent, City Developments rose 0.56 percent, DFI Retail slumped 1.02 percent, Frasers Centrepoint Trust shed 0.46 percent, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust spiked 1.20 percent, Hongkong Land dipped 0.16 percent, Keppel DC REIT dropped 0.90 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.64 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gathered 0.50 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust increased 0.87 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.42 percent, SATS jumped 1.62 percent, Seatrium Limited climbed 0.95 percent, SembCorp Industries expanded 0.54 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.61 percent, SingTel rallied 1.26 percent, United Overseas Bank and Venture Corporation both gained 0.60 percent, UOL Group improved 0.91 percent, Yangzijiang Financial collected 0.57 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, Genting Singapore, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Thursday but gradually moved higher over the course of the day to end with small gains.

The Dow climbed 192.34 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 44,650.64, while the NASDAQ rose 19.33 points or 0.09 percent to close at 20,630.66 and the S&P 500 added 17.20 points or 0.27 percent to end at 6,280.46.

The higher close on Wall Street came despite ongoing uncertainty about President Donald Trump's trade policies as he continues to threaten higher tariffs on various sectors and countries.

On the economic front, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday amid concerns about a supply increase for August by OPEC, the huge crude stock inventory in the United States and intensifying U.S. tariff pressures. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $1.81 to settle at $66.57 per barrel.