(RTTNews) – The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 40 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,255-point plateau although the rally may stall on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and the health of the banking sector. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and industrials, while the properties came in mixed.
For the day, the index added 16.51 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 3,255.54 after trading between 3,243.25 and 3,266.98.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT lost 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Investment surged3.10 percent, City Developments soared 1.81 percent, DBS Group gained 0.48 percent, Hongkong Land eased 0.24 percent, Keppel Corp spiked 1.28 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust added 0.56 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 1.13 percent, SATS tumbled 2.30 percent, SembCorp Industries and Jardine Matheson both rose 0.23 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.28 percent, SingTel advanced 0.83 percent, Thai Beverage and Frasers Logistics both sank 0.77 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.95 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding dropped 0.82 percent and Wilmar International, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Emperador, Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday, but they all headed south throughout the session and ended in the red.
The Dow shed 37.83 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 32,394.25, while the NASDAQ sank 52.76 points or 0.45 percent to end at 11,716.08 and the S&P 500 fell 6.26 points or 0.16 percent to close at 3,971.27.
The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates amid a continued increase in treasury yields as the 10-year yield climbed further off last Friday’s six-month closing low.
In economic news, the Conference Board unexpectedly reported a slight improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in March.
Crude oil prices climbed higher Tuesday on easing concerns about global banking sector woes, lifting the most active oil futures contract to a two-week closing high. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $73.20 a barrel.
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