Renewed Support Expected For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 30 points or 1 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,060-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, riding a spike in crude oil prices and some bargain hunting. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index shed 21.76 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 3,058.61 after trading between 3,052.78 and 3,071.22. Volume was 1.43 billion shares worth 1 billion Singapore dollars. There were 298 decliners and 196 gainers,

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT slid 0.33 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 0.50 percent, City Developments stumbled 0.70 percent, Comfort DelGro and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both sank 0.64 percent, Dairy Farm International declined 0.85 percent, DBS Group and United Overseas Bank both retreated 0.89 percent, Genting Singapore plunged 1.29 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 1.08 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust lost 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.43 percent, SATS tanked 1.27 percent, SembCorp Industries dropped 0.54 percent, Singapore Airlines tumbled 1.22 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 0.10 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plummeted 1.31 percent, SingTel surrendered 0.83 percent, Thai Beverage weakened 0.76 percent, Wilmar International skidded 0.97 percent and Keppel Corp, Mapletree Commercial Trust, Singapore Press Holdings and CapitaLand were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but quickly turned higher, continuing to pick up steam heading into the close.

The Dow spiked 236.82 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 34,814.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 123.77 points or 0.82 percent to end at 15,161.53 and the S&P 500 gained 37.65 points or 0.85 percent to close at 4,480.70.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected bargain hunting following the downward trend seen over the past several sessions.

Traders were also digesting the latest batch of data, including a report from the Fed showing industrial production in the U.S. increased less than expected in August. Also, the Labor Department said U.S. import prices fell last month for the first time since October 2020.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Wednesday, lifting the most active crude futures contracts to a nearly seven-week closing high after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $2.15 or 3.1 percent at $72.61 a barrel, the highest settlement since July 30.