Singapore Bourse May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one day after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 60 points or 1.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,870-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the properties, trusts and industrials, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index added 13.86 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 3,874.62 after trading between 3,854.97 and 3,883.02.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust stumbled 1.01 percent, while City Developments and Singapore Technologies Engineering both added 0.40 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.72 percent, DBS Group collected 0.25 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 3.38 percent, Genting Singapore improved 0.68 percent, Hongkong Land increased 0.48 percent, Keppel DC REIT rallied 1.38 percent, Keppel Ltd climbed 0.74 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.84 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.29 percent, SATS strengthened 0.91 percent, Seatrium Limited skyrocketed 6.48 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.19 percent, SingTel spiked 2.40 percent, Thai Beverage accelerated 1.98 percent, Venture Corporation dipped 0.23 percent, Wilmar International jumped 0.92 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 3.03 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 3.36 percent and CapitaLand Investment, Emperador, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened lower and largely stayed that way, although the NASDAQ peeked up into the green by the close.

The Dow dropped 225.09 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 44,368.56, while the NASDAQ perked 6.10 points or 0.03 percent to close at 19,649.95 and the S&P 500 lost 16.53 points or 0.27 percent to end at 6,051.97.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in January.

The hotter than expected inflation data increased speculation the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates on hold for a prolonged period.

Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures settled lower by $1.95 or about 2.66 percent at $71.37 a barrel, falling after three successive days of gains.