Little Movement Seen For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering almost 40 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,300-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as investors digest Wednesday’s FOMC rate decision. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial shares and property stocks were offset by weakness from the industrials.

For the day, the index added 18.80 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 3,304.96 after trading between 3,282.11 and 3,316.10.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT improved 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.50 percent, CapitaLand Investment added 0.60 percent, City Developments perked 0.28 percent, DBS Group spiked 1.25 percent, Emperador dropped 0.97 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.83 percent, Keppel Corp jumped 1.45 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust rallied 1.20 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust increased 0.58 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 1.02 percent, SATS advanced 0.74 percent, SembCorp Industries plummeted 3.36 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.54 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 1.68 percent, Wilmar International climbed 0.80 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding lost 0.66 percent and Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, Seatrium Limited, Mapletree Industrial Trust, SingTel, Comfort DelGro, DFI Retail and Keppel DC REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but recovered enough to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow gained 82.05 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 35,520.12, while the NASDAQ fell 17.27 points or 0.12 percent to close at 14,127.28 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.71 points or 0.02 percent to end at 4,566.75.

The late-day action came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to resume raising interest following a pause last month, raising the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points from 5.25 to 5.50 percent. With the increase, the midpoint of the target range is the highest since early 2001.

The decision to increase rates came as the Fed noted inflation remains elevated, while U.S. economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace and job gains have been robust in recent months.

In his post-meeting press conference Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it is possible the central bank could raise rates again in September or hold steady, noting the central bank plans to take a meeting by meeting approach.

Crude oil prices fell Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $0.85 or 1.1 percent at $78.78 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will report unemployment figures for the second quarter later today; in the previous three months, the jobless rate was 1.8 percent.