Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one session after snapping the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 15 points or 0.5 percent. The STI now rests just above the 3,265-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as the financial shares, property stocks and industrials ended mostly in the green.

For the day, the index added 8.68 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,266.38 after trading between 3,264.03 and 3,277.94. Volume was 776.4 million shares worth 428 million Singapore dollars. There were 209 gainers and 143 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 0.37 percent, while CapitaLand Investment improved 0.27 percent, City Developments sank 0.72 percent, Comfort DelGro surged 1.64 percent, DBS Group jumped 0.76 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 0.53 percent, Keppel Corp dipped 0.27 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 0.61 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and UOL Group both added 0.45 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust spiked 1.28 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.32 percent, SATS strengthened 0.70 percent, SingTel gained 0.39 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.10 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 1.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rallied 0.73 percent and Wilmar International, Hongkong Land, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Singapore Technologies Engineering, SembCorp Industries, Thai Beverage and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, with only the Dow managing to break barely into positive territory.

The Dow rose 37.63 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 33,241.56, while the NASDAQ tumbled 144.64 points or 1.38 percent to end at 10,353.23 and the S&P 500 sank 15.57 points or 0.40 percent to close at 3,829.25.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected lingering concerns about the economic outlook following recent indications the Federal Reserve plans to continuing raising interest rates.

The markets got a lift when treasuries moved sharply lower, extending the downward trend seen over the past several sessions.

Bond prices came under pressure in early trading and saw further downside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 10.9 basis points to 3.860 percent.

Crude oil prices pared gains and settled roughly flat on Tuesday after refineries in the Gulf Coast restarted after a temporary closure. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled flat at $79.53 a barrel.