The Singapore stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 20 points or 0.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 2,530-point plateau and it's predicted to open slightly higher again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopes for a stimulus bill in the United States. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the financials were offset by weakness from the properties.
For the day, the index added 2.80 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 2,528.41 after trading between 2,513.52 and 2,530.76. Volume was 1.34 billion shares worth 1.01 billion Singapore dollars. There were 211 decliners and 202 gainers.
Among the actives, Venture Corporation plummeted 2.00 percent, while Ascendas REIT plunged 1.90 percent, SembCorp Industries and Wilmar International both surged 1.42 percent, City Developments tanked 1.13 percent, CapitaLand Mall Trust tumbled 1.05 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding skidded 1.03 percent, DBS Group jumped 0.89 percent, Singapore Airlines climbed 0.85 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.70 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering advanced 0.55 percent, Dairy Farm International dropped 0.53 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust added 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land shed 0.52 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust gained 0.47 percent, SingTel lost 0.47 percent, CapitaLand fell 0.37 percent, Singapore Exchange slid 0.33 percent, SATS rose 0.32 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.30 percent, Keppel Corp increased 0.22 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was up 0.11 percent and Genting Singapore, Thai Beverage, CapitaLand Commercial Trust and Singapore Press Holdings were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mildly positive as stocks fluctuated on Thursday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing slightly higher.
The Dow added 152.84 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 28,363.66, while the NASDAQ gained 21.31 points or 0.19 percent to end at 11,506.01 and the S&P 500 rose 17.93 points or 0.52 percent to close at 3,453.49.
The strength on Wall Street came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated Democrats and the White House continue to make progress toward an agreement on a new stimulus bill.
In economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims came in below estimates last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales spiked by more than anticipated in September.
Crude oil prices moved higher Thursday, cutting into losses in the previous session after reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country has not ruled out delaying OPEC+ production increases that are set for January. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $0.63 or 1.4 percent at $40.64 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will release September data for consumer prices later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.3 percent on month and a decline of 0.25 percent on year. That follows the 0.6 percent monthly increase and the 0.4 percent yearly decline in August.
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