Singapore stock market has green light for Wednesday’s trading

(RTTNews) – Singapore’s stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, gaining more than 30 points, or 1 percent, along the way. The Straits Times Index is now just above the 3,205-point plateau and is tipped to rise further on Wednesday.

The global outlook for Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, largely supported by the price of crude oil. European markets were up and US markets were mixed and Asian markets share the difference.

The STI ended slightly higher on Tuesday after gains from financial stocks, real estate stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index jumped 30.18 points or 0.95 percent to finish at 3,207.36 after trading between 3,187.46 and 3,207.99. The volume was 1.73 billion shares worth 1.55 billion Singapore dollars. There were 315 winners and 212 declines.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 0.65 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rallied 0.93 percent, City Developments fell 0.74 percent, Comfort DelGro peaked 1.89 percent, Dairy Farm International lost 0.56 percent, DBS Group and SingTel both rose 2.19 percent, Genting Singapore shot up 1.90 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.18 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust climbed 0.94 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 0.32 percent, SATS added 0.75 percent, SembCorp Industries improved 0.50 percent, Singapore Airlines improved 0.79 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 0.36 percent, Singapore Press Holdings fell 0.53 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 1.75 percent, Thai Beverage rose 0.76 percent, United Overseas Bank accelerated 1.24 percent, Wilmar International rose 1.12 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 0.67 percent and CapitaLand and Mapletree Commercial Trust were unchanged.

Wall Street’s lead is again inconsistent as the big averages opened higher on Tuesday; the Dow and S&P stayed that way all along, ending up at new all-time highs, while the NASDAQ quickly collapsed and was in the red for the rest of the day.

The Dow rose 162.82 points or 0.46 percent to end at 35,264.67, while the NASDAQ fell 72.09 points or 0.49 percent to close at 14,788.09 and the S&P rose 4.40 points or 0.10 percent to end at 4,436.75.

The Dow and S&P 500’s claims reflected optimism following news that the Senate passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The package now goes to the House of Representatives, where it faces an uncertain future.

However, buying interest has been subdued as traders looked forward to the release of a Labor Department report on consumer price inflation in July later in the day.

Inflation data could affect the outlook for monetary policy. Concerns that the Fed could scale back its asset purchases earlier than currently expected may have weighed on high-growth technology stocks.

Crude oil futures came sharply higher on Tuesday, recovering from recent losses as data showing a sharp rise in fuel demand in India in July pushed prices up. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended $1.81 or 2.7 percent at $68.29 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore comes with final Q2 gross domestic product figures. The previous reading suggested an increase of 3.1 percent quarter-on-quarter and 1.3 percent year-on-year.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.