Win Streak May Continue For Singapore Bourse

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 100 points or 2.1 percent along the way. Now at a record closing high, the Straight Times Index sits just beneath the 4,740-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be positive, despite several of the regional bourses already at record closing highs. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to at least open in similar fashion.

The STI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and property stocks and a mixed picture from the industrials and REITs.

For the day, the index added 59.47 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 4,739.97 after trading between 4,693.28 and 4,744.67.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.42 percent, while CapitaLand Investment and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation both expanded 1.10 percent, City Developments jumped 1.57 percent, DBS Group soared 2.26 percent, DFI Retail Group advanced 0.77 percent, Genting Singapore increased 0.69 percent, Hongkong Land and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both surged 2.59 percent, Keppel DC REIT and Seatrium Limited both sank 0.45 percent, Keppel Ltd rallied 1.33 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.48 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust improved 0.76 percent, SATS slumped 1.30 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.16 percent, Singapore Exchange spiked 2.04 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering shed 0.34 percent, SingTel perked 0.22 percent, United Overseas Bank vaulted 1.15 percent, UOL Group climbed 1.02 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.33 percent and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Singapore Airlines were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened in the green on Tuesday and trended higher through the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 484.90 points or 0.99 percent to finish at a record high 49,462.08, while the NASDAQ climbed 151.35 points or 0.65 percent to end at 23,547.17 and the S&P 500 gained 42.77 points or 0.62 percent to close at 6,944.82, also a record.

The Dow benefitted from a sharp increase by shares of Amazon (AMZN) after it announced it is rolling out Alexa.com to Alexa+ Early Access customers in what is seen as an effort to more directly compete with ChatGPT and Gemini.

The continued advance by the broader markets came despite a lack of major catalysts, as traders look ahead to the release of several key U.S. economic reports in the coming days.

The highlight of the week may be the Labor Department's monthly jobs report on Friday. That data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Tuesday as investors booked profits while analyzing the consequences of Saturday's swift U.S. military operation in Venezuela on global oil supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $1.11 or 1.90 percent at $57.21 per barrel.