Singapore Stock Market May Find Traction On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, giving away almost 100 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Straits Tines Index now rests just beneath the 3,790-point plateau although it may see mild upside on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on conflicting signals about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the financial shares, REITs and properties were mitigated by support from the industrials.

For the day, the index dipped 2.93 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 3,788.77 after trading between 3,779.01 and 3,791.35.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tumbled 1.55 percent, while CapitaLand Investment gathered 0.41 percent, City Developments eased 0.20 percent, DBS Group sank 0.39 percent, Genting Singapore added 0.68 percent, Hongkong Land retreated 0.93 percent, Keppel DC REIT tanked 2.74 percent, Keppel Ltd climbed 1.04 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust declined 0.83 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.45 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Venture Corporation both slumped 0.79 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation lost 0.29 percent, SATS improved 0.84 percent, Seatrium Limited rose 0.46 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.36 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.65 percent, SingTel fell 0.32 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.93 percent, Wilmar International spiked 1.66 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.20 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 4.07 percent Emperador, Comfort DelGro and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday but quickly faded and then hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow advanced 221.16 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 42,518.28, while the NASDAQ slumped 43.71 points or 0.23 percent to close at 19.044.39 and the S&P 500 rose 6.69 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,842.91.

The initial strength on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices rose by slightly less than expected in the month of December.

The smaller than expected monthly increase by producer prices helped ease recent concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates, although the faster annual growth kept buying interest somewhat subdued.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of a more closely watched report on consumer price inflation later today.

Oil prices came off five-month highs on Tuesday as investors shifted their focus on the possible impact of Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed lower by $1.32 or about 1.67 percent at $77.50 a barrel.