Renewed Consolidation Likely For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday snapped the three-day losing streak in which it had slipped just 5 points or 0.1 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,655-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft as investors may look to book gains before the year's end. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets also figure to tick lower.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and industrials, while the property stocks were soft.

For the day, the index gained 21.74 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 4,655.38 after trading between 4,643.36 and 4,665.12.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and UOL Group both climbed 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust strengthened 0.42 percent, CapitaLand Investment expanded 0.37 percent, City Developments dipped 0.13 percent, DBS Group jumped 0.53 percent, DFI Retail Group slumped 1.00 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.57 percent, Keppel Ltd and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both advanced 0.29 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 0.71 percent, SATS added 0.26 percent, Seatrium Limited surged 1.41 percent, SembCorp Industries perked 0.17 percent, Singapore Airlines sank 0.31 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 0.18 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 0.84 percent, SingTel gained 0.22 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.43 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, Thai Beverage, Keppel DC REIT, Wilmar International and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and spent most of the day slightly in the red, ending near session lows.

The Dow sank 94.87 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 48,367.06, while the NASDAQ lost 55.27 points or 0.24 percent to close at 23,419.08 and the S&P 500 slipped 9.50 points or 0.14 percent to end at 6,896.24.

Traders initially seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

However, trading activity remained subdued after the release of the minutes, which reiterated officials' mixed views about the outlook for interest rates. Participants expressed a "range of views" about the restrictiveness of the Fed's current monetary policy stance.

The Fed's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for January 27-28, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicating an 83.9 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Tuesday as U.S. data showed a modest build in crude oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $0.16 or 0.28 percent at $57.92 per barrel.