Singapore Stock Market May Extend Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 30 points or 0.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,890-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing inflation and tariff concerns. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index gained 20.89 points or 0.54 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,891.94 after moving as low as 3,873.38.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.49 percent, while CapitaLand Investment climbed 0.79 percent, Comfort DelGro plunged 1.97 percent, DBS Group strengthened 1.92 percent, Genting Singapore plummeted 2.72 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 1.58 percent, Keppel DC REIT stumbled 1.38 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.83 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust retreated 0.90 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.37 percent, SATS gained 0.34 percent, Seatrium Limited sank 0.48 percent, SembCorp Industries dropped 0.76 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering jumped 1.95 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.33 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.32 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.45 percent and SingTel, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Emperador, Keppel Ltd and City Developments were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly positive as the major averages opened in the red on Thursday but rallied to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 271.69 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 42,322.75, while the NASDAQ dipped 34.49 points or 0.18 percent to close at 19,112.32 and the S&P 500 added 24.35 points or 0.41 percent to end at 5,916.93.

The choppy trading on day came as traders digested an avalanche of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing producer prices unexpectedly decreased in the month of April.

Another report from the Commerce Department showed a slight increase by U.S. retail sales in April. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said industrial production in the U.S. was unchanged in the month of April.

Crude oil futures showed a substantial move to the downside on Thursday on reports the U.S. is very close to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. Crude for June delivery plunged $1.53 or 2.4 percent to $61.62 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide April data for non-oil domestic exports later this morning; in March, exports were down 7.6 percent on month and up 5.4 percent on year for a trade surplus of SGD5.242 billion.