Singapore Shares May Find Traction On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 20 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,110-point plateau and it's expected to halt is slide on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were solidly higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, while the properties and industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 13.09 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,111.58 after trading between 3,100.44 and 3,120.21.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT fell 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rallied 1.08 percent, CapitaLand Investment slumped 0.97 percent, City Developments added 0.65 percent, Comfort DelGro lost 0.75 percent, DBS Group dropped 0.83 percent, Emperador soared 1.98 percent, Genting Singapore declined 1.07 percent, Keppel Corp slid 0.62 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 0.72 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation skidded 0.93 percent, SATS jumped 1.11 percent, Seatrium Limited spiked 1.87 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.79 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering tumbled 1.31 percent, SingTel sank 0.86 percent, Thai Beverage surged 2.86 percent, Wilmar International retreated 1.09 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plunged 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding advanced 0.68 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Hongkong Land were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened modestly higher on Monday but accelerated throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 203.76 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 35,151.04, while the NASDAQ rallied 159.05 points or 1.13 percent to close at 14,284.53 and the S&P 500 gained 33.36 points or 0.74 percent to end at 4,547.38.

The strength on Wall Street reflected recent upward momentum, which comes amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates. Recent data showing signs of easing inflation has reinforced investor expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave rates unchanged at upcoming meetings.

Stocks saw further upside in afternoon trading as treasury yields pulled back following the release of the results of the Treasury Department's auction of $16 billion worth of 20-year bonds.

In economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell by more than expected in October.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid expectations that OPEC will further extend its voluntary output cuts next week, while the dollar's weakness also contributed to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $1.79 or 2.4 percent at $77.83 a barrel.