Singapore Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 20 points or 0.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,200-point plateau although it may head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat to lower following U.S. inflation data. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed 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 gained 21.45 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 3,201.41 after trading between 3,180.80 and 3,202.70.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT jumped 1.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust accelerated 2.53 percent, CapitaLand Investment and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust both gained 0.66 percent, City Developments perked 0.15 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.70 percent, DBS Group rose 0.65 percent, Emperador and Genting Singapore both climbed 1.00 percent, Keppel Ltd dipped 0.14 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.81 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust soared 3.05 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.47 percent, SATS gathered 0.34 percent, Seatrium Limited advanced 0.90 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering strengthened 1.04 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 1.87 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.29 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 3.23 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 2.58 percent and Hongkong Land, Keppel DC REIT, SembCorp Industries and SingTel were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly plummeted deep into the red before rallying to finish mixed and flat.

The Dow rose 15.29 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 37,711.02, while the NASDAQ perked 0.54 points or 0.00 percent to close at 14,970.18 and the S&P 500 slipped 3.21 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,780.24.

The early downturn on Wall Street came as traders digested the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation in December, which showed prices rose slightly more than expected.

A number of economists have said the data makes the Federal Reserve less likely to cut interest rates in March, with many predicting the central bank will hold off until its May meeting.

The late-day recovery attempt on Wall Street also came as treasury yields showed a notable move to the downside after showing a lack of direction for much of the day.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday as prices rebounded on likely disruptions in trade and supplies after Iran seized a tanker with Iraqi crude marked for delivery to Turkey. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.65 at $72.02 a barrel.