Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 15 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,220-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, due mainly to profit taking and sinking crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are predicted to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the properties and industrials.

For the day, the index added 13.60 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,218.17 after trading between 3,202.69 and 3,228.05. Volume was 1.8 billion shares worth 1 billion Singapore dollars. There were 248 gainers and 213 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gained 0.32 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Mapletree Commercial Trust both spiked 0.93 percent, City Developments dropped 1.07 percent, Comfort DelGro tumbled 1.26 percent, Dairy Farm International climbed 0.55 percent, DBS Group and Thai Beverage both jumped 0.70 percent, Genting Singapore rallied 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land soared 1.31 percent, Jardine Matheson surged 1.44 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.19 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust perked 0.50 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was up 0.08 percent, SATS lost 0.24 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.49 percent, Singapore Exchange fell 0.21 percent, Singapore Press Holdings gathered 0.51 percent, SingTel added 0.39 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.41 percent and Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Singapore Airlines and CapitaLand were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages took different paths on Wednesday. The NASDAQ opened higher and finished the same way, albeit barely. The Dow spent most of the session in the red and the S&P 500 hugged the unchanged line before both ended in negative territory.

The Dow dropped 266.19 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 35,490.69, while the NASDAQ rose 0.12 points or 0.00 percent to close at 15,235.84 and the S&P 500 fell 23.11 points or 0.51 percent to end at 4,551.68.

While a mixed reaction to the latest earnings news contributed to choppy trading, traders also looked to cash in on recent strength in the markets in late-day trading as the Dow and S&P eased from record highs.

Corporate earnings were mixed as companies like Twitter (TWTR) and General Motors (GM) disappointed, while Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) beat the street.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department said durable goods orders pulled back by much less than expected in September.

Crude oil prices sank Wednesday after data showed a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. Oil prices were also weighed down by prospects of Iran freeing itself from U.S. sanctions and start selling oil to major importers again. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December were down by $1.99 or 2.3 percent at $82.66 a barrel.