Singapore Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in three straight trading days, collecting almost 30 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,820-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with strong support expected from the technology companies. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The STI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the telecoms, weakness from the industrials and a mixed performance from the financial shares. For the day, the index added 10.68 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 3,821.03 after trading between 3,807.40 and 3,824.16. Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment shed 0.75 percent, while City Developments skidded 1.15 percent, DBS Group rallied 1.30 percent, Emperador slumped 1.19 percent, Genting Singapore lost 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land stumbled 1.32 percent, Keppel DC REIT plummeted 3.17 percent, Keppel Ltd eased 0.15 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.79 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.43 percent, SATS tumbled 1.36 percent, Seatrium Limited fell 0.50 percent, SembCorp Industries retreated 1.26 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slid 0.44 percent, SingTel added 0.32 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.98 percent, Yangzijiang Financial declined 1.25 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Comfort DelGro and Thai Beverage were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and finished largely the same way.

The Dow shed 110.58 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 43,717.48, while the NASDAQ surged 247.17 points or 1.24 percent to close at a record 20,173.89 and the S&P 500 advanced 22.99 points or 0.38 percent to end at 6,074.08.

The general strength on Wall Street reflected optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision later today. The Fed is widely expected to continue cutting interest rates, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 99.1 percent chance the central bank will lower rates by another 25 basis points.

The surge by the NASDAQ came amid significant strength among semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 2.1 percent. Networking stocks also saw considerable strength, extending a recent upward trend, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 2.0 percent to a new record closing high.

Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as recent data showing inflation remains somewhat sticky has led to some worries the Fed will lower rates slower than previously anticipated next year.

In U.S. economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report showing a sharp pullback by its reading on regional manufacturing activity in the month of December.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for demand after weak economic data from China and the threat of tariffs. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed down $0.58 at $70.71 a barrel. Closer to home, Singapore will on Tuesday release November numbers for non-oil domestic exports. In October, NODX was down 7.4 percent on month and 4.6 percent on year, with a trade surplus of SGD4.410 billion.