The Singapore stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had retreated more than 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,220-point plateau and now it's looking at a green light for Tuesday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive ahead of Wednesday's policy announcement from the Federal Reserve and on support from crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished modesty higher on Monday as gains from the financial shares and property stocks were capped by weakness from the industrials.
For the day, the index gained 20.88 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 3,219.05 after trading between 3,207.71 and 3,229.09. Volume was 1.8 billion shares worth 1 billion Singapore dollars. There were 270 decliners and 220 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gathered 065 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.47 percent, Comfort DelGro accelerated 1.28 percent, Dairy Farm International shed 0.56 percent, DBS Group climbed 1.08 percent, Hongkong Land lost 0.54 percent, Keppel Corp sank 0.93 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust added 0.46 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust was up 0.09 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.27 percent, SATS rose 0.24 percent, SembCorp Industries perked 0.50 percent, Singapore Airlines gained 0.38 percent, Singapore Exchange soared 1.45 percent, Singapore Press Holdings skyrocketed 6.53 percent, SingTel and Venture Corporation both rallied 0.80 percent, Thai Beverage spiked 1.41 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.45 percent, Wilmar International surged 2.08 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.41 percent and Genting Singapore, City Developments, Singapore Technologies Engineering and CapitaLand were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained mostly in the green throughout the session, finishing with modest gains and at record closing highs.
The Dow climbed 94.28 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 35,913.84, while the NASDAQ jumped 97.53 points or 063 percent to close at 15,595.92 and the S&P 500 rose 8.29 points or 0.18 percent to end at 4,613.67.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to Wednesday' announcement from the Fed. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged but could announce plans to begin scaling back its asset purchase program.
A batch of upbeat earnings news has also contributed to a recent upward trend, as most major companies have reported better than expected quarterly results.
In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management noted a modest slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in October. Also, the Commerce Department said construction spending in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in September.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday with traders weighing energy demand and supply levels and looking ahead to the upcoming OPEC meeting. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.48 or 0.6 percent at $84.05 a barrel.
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