The Singapore stock market has seen gains over the past three sessions, accumulating over 70 points or 2.1%. As of now, the Straits Times Index (STI) stands slightly above the 3,475-point mark, though it might face some resistance on Friday.
Global market trends suggest that profit-taking, particularly in the technology sector, is likely. While European markets saw gains, U.S. markets declined, indicating that Asian markets may follow the latter trend.
The STI ended modestly higher on Thursday, with gains in the property sector, weakness in industrials, and a mixed performance from financial stocks.
For Thursday, the STI added 15.13 points, or 0.44%, closing at 3,475.06, trading within a range of 3,466.63 to 3,485.90.
Key performers included:
- CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust: +1.49%
- City Developments: +2.26%
- Comfort DelGro: +1.47%
- DBS Group: +0.60%
- Emperador and Genting Singapore: +1.18%
- Hongkong Land: +0.61%
- Keppel DC REIT: +3.24%
- Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust: +3.25%
- Mapletree Industrial Trust: +3.33%
- Mapletree Logistics Trust: +4.76%
- SATS: +1.96%
- Seatrium Limited: +2.16%
- Thai Beverage: +5.43%
- Yangzijiang Financial: +1.45%
Conversely, Keppel Ltd fell 0.45%, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.20%, SembCorp Industries slumped 1.04%, SingTel decreased 0.34%, Wilmar International declined 0.64%, and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.30%. CapitaLand Investment remained unchanged.
Wall Street presented a largely negative lead. The Dow managed to tick barely into positive territory, increasing by 32.39 points or 0.08% to close at 39,753.75. In contrast, the NASDAQ plummeted by 364.04 points or 1.95%, settling at 18,283.41, and the S&P 500 dropped by 49.37 points or 0.88%, ending at 5,584.54.
Initially, optimism about interest rate prospects bolstered Wall Street, but this enthusiasm waned as traders seemed to have already factored in a potential rate cut in September. Consequently, traders took profits from recent market strengths, with significant tech stocks like Nvidia (NVDA) leading the decline.
Despite the sell-off, the Federal Reserve is still anticipated to reduce rates in September, bolstered by a Labor Department report indicating that U.S. prices slipped slightly in June.
Oil futures rose on Thursday, buoyed by hopes of a Federal Reserve rate cut following favorable inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August settled lower by $0.52 at $82.62 per barrel.
In Singapore, preliminary Q1 gross domestic product (GDP) data is expected to be released shortly. In the previous quarter, GDP grew by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and 2.7% year-on-year.
