Singapore Stock Market May See Additional Support

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 50 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,600-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following a clear result in the U.S. presidential election. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and industrial issues, while the properties and REITs were mixed.

For the day, the index added 21.38 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 3,602.99 after trading between 3,578.52 and 3,606.92.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slumped 0.50 percent, while Comfort DelGro added 0.68 percent, DBS Group collected 0.15 percent, Emperador advanced 1.18 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.19 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 3.23 percent, Keppel DC REIT tumbled 1.77 percent, Keppel Ltd increased 0.47 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust retreated 1.55 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust plummeted 3.31 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 1.26 percent, SATS gained 0.50 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 2.07 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.20 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering surged 2.42 percent, SingTel jumped 1.58 percent, Thai Beverage improved 0.99 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.32 percent, Yangzijiang Financial strengthened 1.25 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 2.00 percent and CapitaLand Investment, City Developments, Mapletree Logistics Trust and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher and only accelerated as the day progressed, ending at session highs.

The Dow surged 1,508.05 points or 3.57 percent to finish at 43,729.93, while the NASDAQ rallied 544.29 points or 2.95 percent to close at 18,983.46 and the S&P 500 spiked 146.28 points or 2.53 percent to end at 5,929.04.

The extended rally on Wall Street came after former President Trump was declared the winner in the presidential election versus Vice President Kamala Harris.

The decisive victory helped avoid the uncertainty that would be created by a prolonged vote counting process and potential legal challenges.

Traders will turn their attention to the Federal Reserve, which is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision later today. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, but the accompanying statement could the impact the outlook for future rate cuts.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. rose more than expected last week, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed down $0.30 or 0.42 percent at $71.69 a barrel.