Singapore Stock Market May Hand Back Wednesday’s Gains

The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than a dozen points or 0.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,290-point plateau although it’s likely to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates and recession fears. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and trusts.

For the day, the index rose 9.04 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 3,289.55 after trading between 3,280.85 and 3,301.29.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT soared 1.09 percent, while CapitaLand Investment climbed 0.52 percent, City Developments spiked 0.76 percent, DBS Group collected 0.46 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.63 percent, Keppel Corp rallied 0.56 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.56 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.44 percent, SATS jumped 0.68 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering and SembCorp Industries both lost 0.29 percent, SingTel gained 0.41 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.24 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.49 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 2.82 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Emperador, Genting Singapore, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Comfort DelGro and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages were unable to hold early support on Wednesday, quickly heading south and finishing near daily lows.

The Dow plummeted 613,89 points or 1.81 percent to finish at 33,296.96, while the NASDAQ tumbled 138.10 points or 1.24 percent to close at 10,957.01 and the S&P 500 sank 62.11 points or 1.56 percent to end at 3,928.86.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard commented that the central bank needs to quickly hike interest rates above 5 percent, shelving much of the recent optimism over interest rates.

Disappointing economic data also weighed as the Commerce Department reported a steep drop in U.S. retail sales in December. A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in December.

As a result of the data, treasuries showed a substantial move to the upside, further stoking fears for the outlook of interest rates.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday amid concerns about a possible U.S. recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $79.48 a barrel.