Singapore Bourse Called Rangebound Again On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 80 points or 2.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,265-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of Wednesday's FOMC interest rate decision. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index lost 13.16 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 3,265.14 after trading between 3,253.95 and 3,285.02.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT lost 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust improved 0.50 percent, CapitaLand Investment tumbled 1.78 percent, City Developments rose 0.43 percent, DBS Group skidded 0.92 percent, Emperador climbed 0.99 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.14 percent, Keppel Corp retreated 1.03 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust jumped 1.33 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust gained 0.59 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation shed 0.39 percent, SATS slumped 0.74 percent, SembCorp Industries and DFI Retail both were up 0.36 percent, SingTel advanced 0.77 percent, Wilmar International fell 0.27 percent, Yangzijiang Financial declined 1.49 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.67 percent and Seatrium Limited, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Thai Beverage, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened higher, faded as the day progressed but still finished with modest gains.

The Dow jumped 183.55 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 35,411.24, while the NASDAQ rose 26.06 points or 0.19 percent to close at 14,058.87 and the S&P 500 added18.30 points or 0.40 percent to end at 4,554.64.

The markets continued to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has contributed to an 11-day winning streak for the Dow, the longest since February 2017. The recent strength lifted all three major averages to their best levels in over a year last week.

Overall trading activity remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Monday, buoyed by increased demand for gasoline and export cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.67 or 2.2 percent at $78.74 a barrel.