Singapore Stock Market Due For Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in six straight sessions, collecting more than 160 points or 5.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,130-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down, and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index advanced 37.39 points or 1.21 percent to finish at 3,130.50 after trading between 3,102.63 and 3,140.32. Volume was 2.04 billion shares worth 1.17 billion Singapore dollars. There were 402 gainers and 184 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT was up 0.38 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 1.60 percent, CapitaLand Investment rallied 2.99 percent, City Developments jumped 2.62 percent, Comfort DelGro strengthened 2.36 percent, DBS Group and Jardine Cycle both gained 1.11 percent, Emperador slumped 1.03 percent, Genting Singapore gathered 062 percent, Hongkong Land soared 3.38 percent, Keppel Corp was up 115 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 1.89 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 1.36 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.33 percent, SATS increased 1.47 percent, SembCorp Industries accelerated 3.09 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering climbed 2.12 percent, SingTel rose 0.80 percent, Thai Beverage surged 3.48 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.90 percent, Yangzijiang Financial skyrocketed 6.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 3.33 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust and Wilmar International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Tuesday, quickly heading south and ending in the red.

The Dow shed 79.75 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 32,653.20, while the NASDAQ dropped 97.30 points or 0.89 percent to end at 10,890.85 and the S&P 500 fell 15.88 points or 0.41 percent to close at 3,856.10.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as traders wished to consolidate their positions ahead of the Fed announcement. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, but traders have expressed optimism the central bank will signal plans to slow the pace of rate hikes at upcoming meetings.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a jump in U.S. job openings in September, while the Institute for Supply Management showed a slight increase in U.S. manufacturing activity in October. Also, the Commerce Department said construction spending in the U.S. unexpectedly increased in October.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday on a weak dollar, a reduction in OPEC crude output, an upward revision in oil demand forecast by OPEC, and record U.S. oil export data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December jumped $1.84 or 2.1 percent at $88.37 a barrel.