Singapore Stock Market Likely To Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has ticked lower in two straight sessions, slipping more than 15 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just shy of the 3,800-point plateau and it's due for support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index fell 12.60 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 3,795.37 after trading between 3,779.07 and 3,806.77.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.51 percent, while CapitaLand Investment gained 0.40 percent, City Developments and Mapletree Logistics Trust both sank 0.78 percent, Comfort DelGro retreated 1.42 percent, DBS Group skid 0.21 percent, Hongkong Land tumbled 2.10 percent, Keppel DC REIT added 0.45 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.83 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation shed 0.64 percent, SATS rallied 1.40 percent, Seatrium Limited climbed 0.90 percent, SembCorp Industries and DFI Retail both slumped 0.88 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering advanced 0.85 percent, SingTel fell 0.63 percent, Wilmar International improved 0.65 percent, Yangzijiang Financial skidded 1.19 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Emperador, Genting Singapore, Thai Beverage, Keppel Ltd and Mapletree Industrial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and mostly stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow soared 537.98 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 44,025.81, while the NASDAQ rallied 126.58 points or 0.64 percent to close at 19,756.78 and the S&P 500 gained 52.58 points or 0.88 percent to end at 6,049.24.

U.S. stocks were firmly in positive territory, with investors assessing the possible impact of the Trump administration's economic policies and likely tariff proposals.

Optimism about some interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, and a drop in treasury yields also contributed to market's upside.

The recent retreat by treasury yields came as the U.S. inflation data released over the past few days led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Oil prices tumbled on Tuesday, weighed down by Trump's plans to boost oil and gas production in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed down $1.99 or 2.56 percent at $75.89 a barrel.