Win Streak May Continue For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in five straight sessions, jumping almost 60 points or 2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just shy of the 3,215-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for the economy and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index improved 23.80 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 3,213.68 after trading between 3,200.04 and 3,231.40.

Among the actives, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 2.91 percent, while Keppel Corp soared 2.54 percent, SembCorp Industries and DFI Retail both spiked 1.67 percent, Emperador stumbled 0.98 percent, DBS Group rallied 0.97 percent, SingTel jumped 0.85 percent, Frasers Logistics sank 0.85 percent, Wilmar International climbed 0.85 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.81 percent, SATS and Comfort DelGro both advanced 0.79 percent, Seatrium added 0.70 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia lost 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land fell 0.56 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.53 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.52 percent, CapitaLand Investment slid 0.32 percent, City Developments perked 0.30 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Thai Beverage and Mapletree Industrial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday, ebbed and flowed throughout the session but still ended solidly in positive territory.

The Dow jumped 213.08 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 34,559.98, while the NASDAQ spiked 114.48 points or 0.84 percent to close at 13,705.13 and the S&P 500 rallied 27.60 points or 0.63 percent to end at 4,433.31.

The higher open came after China put forth stimulus to ease market unrest and drive economic growth. Chinese authorities announced a slew of measures over the weekend to bolster the country's equity markets and fuel an increase in spending. The measures included a 50 percent reduction in stamp duty on stock trades and a slower pace of initial public offerings.

The markets also saw continued momentum after Fed Chair Jerome Powell expressed confidence in continued economic growth last week at Jackson Hole and reiterated the central bank's commitment to pull inflation back to the 2 percent target.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Monday on optimism that energy operations in the Gulf Coast of Florida may be affected by severe weather conditions this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $80.10 a barrel.