Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market has finished higher in back-to-back trading days, collecting more than 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,140-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative thanks to a spike in bond yields and plummeting oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index advanced 28.01 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 3,137.66 after trading between 3,130.65 and 3,147.67. Volume was 2.96 billion shares worth 1.73 billion Singapore dollars. There were 308 gainers and 183 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT increased 0.66 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust jumped 1.36 percent, City Developments accelerated 1.47 percent, Comfort DelGro gathered 1.20 percent, Dairy Farm International advanced 0.92 percent, DBS Group climbed 1.28 percent, Genting Singapore surged 2.19 percent, Keppel Corp dropped 0.39 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust rallied 1.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust perked 1.06 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was up 0.17 percent, SATS spiked 1.56 percent, Singapore Airlines rose 0.71 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 0.10 percent, Singapore Press Holdings soared 2.29 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.26 percent, SingTel added 0.84 percent, Thai Beverage improved 0.69 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.35 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 0.81 percent and CapitaLand, SembCorp Industries and Wilmar international were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened mixed on Thursday but turned firmly negative as the day progressed – particularly among technology stocks.

The Dow tumbled 153.07 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 32,862.30, while the NASDAQ plummeted 409.03 points or 3.02 percent to end at 13,116.17 and the S&P 500 sank 58.66 points or 1.48 percent to close at 3,915.46.

The weakness on Wall Street came as another spike in treasury yields renewed concerns about the outlook for high-growth companies. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note jumped above 1.7 percent to reach its highest levels since January of 2020, while the thirty-year bond yield shot up to its highest levels since last summer.

Yields skyrocketed despite assurances by the Federal Reserve that interest rates will remain at near-zero levels through 2023. Analysts attributed the jump in yields to concerns that the Fed’s apparent willingness to let inflation accelerate more than normal will reduce the appeal of bonds.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week thanks to the winter storm in Texas. Also, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said its reading on regional manufacturing spiked to a 50-year high in March.

Crude oil prices declined sharply on Thursday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $4.60 or 7.1 percent at $60.00 a barrel.