Singapore Bourse Due For Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, improving more than 75 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 4,590-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, with weakness from the technology and oil sectors limiting the upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished barely higher on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index perked 2.72 points or 0.06 percent to finish at the daily high of 4,589.17 after trading as low as 4,563.23.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT sank 0.72 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 0.43 percent, City Developments gained 0.27 percent, Comfort DelGro expanded 0.70 percent, DBS Group improved 0.45 percent, DFI Retail Group stumbled 1.25 percent, Hongkong Land retreated 1.12 percent, Keppel DC REIT lost 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd declined 1.17 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.69 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.47 percent, SATS surged 3.45 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 1.52 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering skidded 0.96 percent, SingTel rose 0.21 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 1.05 percent, United Overseas Bank perked 0.12 percent, UOL Group dropped 0.82 percent, Wilmar International dipped 0.33 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plummeted 3.41 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.29 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, CapitaLand Investment, Seatrium Limited and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but quickly slipped under water and spent the balance of the day hugging the line from below.

The Dow slumped 41.49 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 48,416.56, while the NASDAQ dropped 137.76 points or 0.59 percent to end at 23,057.41 and the S&P 500 sank 10.90 points or 0.16 percent to close at 6,816.51.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on continued uncertainty about AI spending and the possibility of a tech bubble.

Traders were also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key U.S. economic data in the coming days, including retail sales and inflation.

The data could impact the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last Wednesday. While the Fed cut rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, officials' projections showed significant differences of opinion about further rate cuts.

The price of crude oil retreated on Monday as lingering oversupply concerns offset worries about potential supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.62 or 1.1 percent to $56.82 per barrel.