Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 50 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,850-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on tariff concerns and sinking oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished slightly higher on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index rose 7.93 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 3,853.07 after trading between 3,836.70 and 3,858.97.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT rose 0.38 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rallied 1.58 percent, City Developments climbed 0.62 percent, Comfort DelGro tanked 3.25 percent, DBS Group gained 0.42 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 5.04 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.41 percent, Keppel DC REIT slumped 0.91 percent, Keppel Ltd improved 0.30 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.82 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.50 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust jumped 0.89 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.19 percent, SATS soared 2.47 percent, Seatrium Limited advanced 0.52 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.30 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 1.36 percent, SingTel increased 0.26 percent, Venture Corporation plunged 4.01 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 2.10 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 6,22 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, Genting Singapore and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied midday but turned lower into the finish to end in the red.

The Dow shed 98.60 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 41,218.83, while the NASDAQ dropped 133.49 points or 0.74 percent to close at 17,844.24 and the S&P 500 sank 36.29 points or 0.64 percent to end at 5,650.38.

The early pullback on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets, which had lifted the major averages to their best levels in a month.

Renewed trade concerns also weighed on stocks after President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 100 percent tariff on movies produced in foreign countries.

However, early selling pressure waned following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected increase in U.S. service sector activity in April.

Crude oil futures moved sharply lower on Monday to a four-year low after several members of OPEC+ agreed to increase oil production for a second month. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery tumbled $1.16 or 2 percent to $57.13 a barrel.