Additional Support Predicted For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market on Thursday halted the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 85 points or 2.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,140-point plateau and it’s expected to extend its gains on Friday.

The global forecast is upbeat on encouraging inflation data from the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the properties and industrials were dented by weakness from the financial sector.

For the day, the index perked 2.92 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 3,141.85 after trading between 3,135.13 and 3,153.12.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT sank 0.72 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust soared 3.16 percent, City Developments plunged 1.90 percent, Comfort DelGro tumbled 1.46 percent, DBS Group fell 0.36 percent, Emperador and SembCorp Industries both strengthened 2.00 percent, Genting Singapore jumped 2.25 percent, Hongkong Land spiked 3.05 percent, Keppel DC REIT lost 0.58 percent, Keppel Ltd climbed 1.69 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.74 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.68 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.23 percent, SATS advanced 0.77 percent, Seatrium Limited surged 3.45 percent, SingTel rose 0.43 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 0.98 percent, UOL Group plummeted 4.23 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.60 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 2.99 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 0.57 percent and Singapore Technologies Engineering, Frasers Logistics, Venture Corporation, CapitaLand Investment and Mapletree Industrial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher but quickly faded before later accelerating into the green to end near session highs.

The Dow added 47.37 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 38,996.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 144.18 points or 0.90 percent to end at 16,091.92 and the S&P 500 gained 26.51 points or 0.52 percent to close at 5,096.27.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Commerce Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in January.

The inflation readings are said to be favored by the Federal Reserve, and the data generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a bigger than expected increase in weekly jobless claims, while the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly saw a sharp pullback by pending home sales in January.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about reduced fuel demand outweighing hopes for the likely extension of production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.