Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 35 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index new rests just beneath the 3,800-point plateau although it's likely to run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking expected by the year's end - especially among the technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial hares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index improved 24.10 points or 0.64 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,795.73 after moving as low as 3,769.66.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.52 percent, while CapitaLand Investment spiked 1.53 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.68 percent, DBS Group advanced 0.69 percent, Emperador rallied 1.20 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.36 percent, Keppel DC REIT was up 0.46 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 0.82 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation strengthened 1.09 percent, SATS gained 0.55 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 1.65 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering and Wilmar International both improved 0.65 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 0.91 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 2.44 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding accelerated 1.37 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust. Mapletree Logistics Trust, DFI Retail Group, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Genting Singapore, Seatrium Limited, SingTel, City Developments and Keppel Ltd were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Monday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 418.48 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 42,573.73, while the NASDAQ slumped 235.25 points or 1.19 percent to close at 19.486.79 and the S&P 500 sank 63.90 points or 1.07 percent to end at 5,906.94.

The weakness on Wall Street marked an extension of the sell-off seen last Friday, with traders taking profits going into the end of the year. The major averages still remain poised to post substantial gains for 2024, however, as the tech-heavy NASDAQ is up nearly 30 percent for the year.

Technology stocks climbed off their worst levels after helping lead the early slump but still ended the day notably lower. Significant weakness was visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

The sell-off on Wall Street may have been exaggerated by below average volume, as many traders remain away from their desks ahead of the New Year's Day holiday on Wednesday.

Oil prices rose to a five-week high on Monday, continuing to benefit from recent data showing a larger than expected drop in crude inventories in the U.S. Expectations of increased demand from China contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for February rose 0.6 percent to $70.99 a barrel.