Singapore Shares Tipped To Remain Rangebound

The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 30 points or 0.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,740-point plateau and it may inch higher on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with mild downside likely from the oil and technology stocks. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets also figure to see little movement.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the telecoms and mixed performances from the financials, properties and industrials.

For the day, the index fell 14.33 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 3,743.64 after trading between 3,741.72 and 3,766.79.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 0.51 percent, while CapitaLand Investment advanced 0.71 percent, City Developments lost 0.31 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.68 percent, DBS Group skidded 0.85 percent, DFI Retail soared 2.42 percent, Frasers Logistics retreated 1.05 percent, Genting Singapore added 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.72 percent, Keppel DC REIT surged 4.11 percent, Keppel Ltd slumped 1.04 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gained 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 0.79 percent, SATS fell 0.26 percent, Seatrium Limited climbed 1.05 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 2.12 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dipped 0.22 percent, SingTel tumbled 3.10 percent, Venture Corporation perked 0.08 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rallied 1.53 percent and Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Emperador and Jardine Cycle were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Wednesday’s trade in negative territory before a late push saw them finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 139.53 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 43,408.47, while the NASDAQ slipped 21.33 points or 0.11 percent to close at 18,966.14 and the S&P 500 perked 0.13 points or 0.00 percent to end at 5,917.11.

The late rally was fueled by optimism ahead of the release of earnings results from tech darling Nvidia (NVDA); the results, which came after the markets closed, were solid but fell short of their lofty expectations.

The volatility seen late in the session also came as trading activity was somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves as they kept an eye on developments overseas amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday on weak demand concerns and data showing an increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December slipped $0.52 or 0.75 percent at $68.87 a barrel.