Singapore Stock Market May Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one day after ending the four-day winning streak in which it had improved almost 90 points or 2.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,990-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with support from the oil companies offsetting weakness among the technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index improved 25.47 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 3,989.76 after trading between 3,968.57 and 4,001.00.

Among the actives, Hongkong Land skyrocketed 6.07 percent, while DFI Retail Group surged 2.17 percent, Venture Corporation soared 1.58 percent, Yangzijiang Financial and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both spiked 1.35 percent, UOL Group accelerated 1.29 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rallied 1.28 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 1.17 percent, SingTel strengthened 1.05 percent, Seatrium climbed 1.00 percent, SATS advanced 0.99 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust slumped 0.98 percent, City Development improved 0.96 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 0.85 percent, Comfort DelGro increased 0.70 percent, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust sank 0.58 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.55 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added 0.46 percent, DBS Group gained 0.45 percent, Keppel DC REIT shed 0.43 percent, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT lost 0.37 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.35 percent, Keppel Ltd. perked 0.27 percent, United Overseas Bank was up 0.17 percent and CapitaLand Investment, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage and Genting Singapore were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and finished in the same fashion.

The Dow rallied 400.17 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 44,494.94, while the NASDAQ tumbled 166.85 points or 0.82 percent to end at 20,202.89 and the S&P 500 slipped 6.94 points or 0.11 percent to close at 6,198.01.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came following the strong performance seen in recent sessions, which saw the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 reach new record highs.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington, D.C., where the Senate narrowly voted to approve President Donald Trump's massive tax cuts and spending bill.

On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management noted a modest increase by its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity in June. Also, the Labor Department saw an unexpected increase by job openings in the U.S. in May.

Crude oil rose modestly on Tuesday as attention shifts to the OPEC cartel's supposed plans to increase output even as the Middle East remains uneventful. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery traded at $65.40 per barrel, up $0.29 or 0.45 percent.