(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 40 points or 1.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,225-point plateau and it's likely to open in the green again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting, especially among the technology tocks that were battered last week. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.
The STI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares. property stocks and trusts.
For the day, the index rallied 48.66 points or 1.53 percent to finish at 3,225.17 after trading between 3,176.56 and 3,238.59. Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.53 percent, while CapitaLand Investment surged 3.66 percent, City Developments accelerated 2.79 percent, Comfort DelGro jumped 2.07 percent, DBS Group spiked 2.93 percent, Emperador rallied 2.25 percent, Genting Singapore increased 1.09 percent, Hongkong Land soared 3.18 percent, Keppel DC REIT improved 1.22 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.86 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust strengthened 1.65 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust perked 0.46 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 1.02 percent, SATS gained 0.83 percent, Seatrium Limited skyrocketed 7.79 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.56 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.76 percent, SingTel was up 0.43 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 1.05 percent, Wilmar International picked up 0.29 percent, Yangzijiang Financial climbed 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gathered 0.57 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust was unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow rallied 253.58 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 38,239.98, while the NASDAQ jumped 169.30 points or 1.11 percent to close at 15,451.31 and the S&P 500 gained 43.37 points or 0.87 percent to end at 5,010.60.
The strength that emerged on Wall Street came on easing fears of a wider Middle East conflict after Iran and Israel completed 'measured' counterattacks that were calibrated to avoid any casualties.
Investors scooped up bargains ahead of the release of a slew of U.S. economic data including reports on new home sales, durable goods orders and personal income and spending.
Earnings season also starts to pick up steam this week, with Tesla (TSLA), Boeing (BA), IBM (IBM), Caterpillar (CAT), Honeywell (HON), Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) among the companies due to report their quarterly results.
Oil prices drifted lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for global oil demand, while recent data showing a sharp jump in U.S. crude inventories also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May fell $0.29 or 0.34 percent at $82.85 a barrel. Closer to home, Singapore will provide March numbers for consumer prices later today; in February, overall inflation rose 1.1 percent on month and 3.4 percent on year, while core CPI climbed an annual 3.6 percent.
