Additional Support Anticipated For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market ticked higher again on Monday, one session after ending 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 3,250-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly higher following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the industrials and REITs.

For the day, the index rose 5.80 points or 0.18 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,254.43 after moving as low as 3,225.44.

Among the actives, Seatrium plummeted 2.76 percent, while Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.97 percent, Thai Beverage declined 1.71 percent, Singapore Technologies retreated 1.62 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust spiked 1.52 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 1.51 percent, DBS Group strengthened 1.50 percent, SATS slumped 1.47 percent, Genting Singapore skidded 1.05 percent, Emerpador advanced 0.99 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.81 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.79 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.65 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust added 0.60 percent, CapitaLand Investment lost 0.58 percent, Ascendas REIT fell 0.35 percent, Keppel Corporation rose 0.29 percent and Mapletree Logistics, Yangzijiang Financial, SingTel and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but all quickly turned higher. They pulled back from daily highs but still ended firmly in the green.

The Dow added 76.32 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 34,585.35, while the NASDAQ jumped 131.25 points or 0.93 percent to close at 14,244.95 and the S&P 500 rose 17.37 points or 0.39 percent to end at 4,522.79.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected recent upward momentum, as encouraging inflation data has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise rates by another quarter point, traders are hopeful that will mark the final rate hike.

On the U.S. economic front, the New York Federal Reserve released a report showing a pullback in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in the month of July.

Oil prices fell on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand after data showed the Chinese economy grew at slower than expected pace in the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.27 or 1.7 percent at $74.15 a barrel.