(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 25 points or 0.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,100-point plateau and it's expected to see further upside on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on an improving outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the properties and industrials, while the financial shares were mixed.
For the day, the index added 12.11 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 3,102.31 after trading between 3,088.08 and 3,109.06.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT increased 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.53 percent, CapitaLand Investment gained 0.67 percent, City Developments and Singapore Technologies Engineering both climbed 0.80 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.72 percent, DBS Group collected 0.57 percent, Genting Singapore spiked 1.03 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 0.92 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust improved 0.43 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.32 percent, SATS sank 0.37 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 3.26 percent, SingTel rallied 0.85 percent, Wilmar International tumbled 1.42 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.68 percent and Keppel Corp, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Emperador, Thai Beverage, Seatrium Limited, Yangzijiang Financial and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages shook off a soft open, quickly moving into the green and finishing well in positive territory.
The Dow advanced 173.01 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 36,577.94, while the NASDAQ jumped 100.91 points or 0.70 percent to close at 14,533.40 and the S&P 500 gained 21.26 points or 0.46 percent to end at 4,643.70.
The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Labor Department report showing U.S. consumer prices inched up in line with economist estimates in November.
The data has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.
While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking to the accompanying statement and projections for signs the central bank could begin cutting rates next year.
Crude oil prices fell to a six-month low Tuesday amid lingering concerns about the outlook for fuel demand and worries about possible oversupply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $2.71 or 3.8 percent at $68.61 a barrel.
