Singapore Bourse May Run Out Of Steam On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, advancing more than 35 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,910-point plateau although the rally may stall on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid continued uncertainty over U.S. trade policies. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index gained 15.83 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 3,911.92 after trading between 3,901.29 and 3,919.03.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment sank 0.39 percent, while City Developments added 0.63 percent, Comfort DelGro stumbled 2.07 percent, DBS Group jumped 1.39 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 2.58 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gained 0.52 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.12 percent, SATS slumped 0.96 percent, Seatrium Limited rose 0.49 percent, SembCorp Industries retreated 1.04 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dropped 0.77 percent, SingTel fell 0.26 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 2.17 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gathered 0.48 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Hongkong Land, Keppel DC REIT, Keppel Ltd, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off a mildly positive open and headed south through the balance of the session, ending at daily lows.

The Dow dropped 244.95 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 42,098.70, while the NASDAQ sank 98.23 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,100.94 and the S&P 500 slumped 32.99 points or 0.56 percent to end at 5,888.55.

The choppy trading came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of earnings news from AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) after Wednesday's close.

The earnings news after the bell showed that Nvidia beat the street on earnings and revenue, possibly lending support to technology shares going forward.

Lingering uncertainty about President Donald Trump's trade policies also kept some traders on the sidelines following recent volatility.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Wednesday on news that OPEC will establish output quotas for 2027. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.87 or 1.43 percent to $61.76 per barrel.