The Singapore stock market has seen a slight uptick over the last two trading sessions, accumulating nearly 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index (STI) now sits just above the 3,330-point level, although it might experience some stagnation on Wednesday.
The global outlook for Asian markets is currently mixed, characterized by flat movement ahead of upcoming economic data and ongoing skepticism about interest rate forecasts. While European markets experienced a downturn, U.S. markets displayed mixed performances, which suggests that Asian markets might show a similar balance.
On Tuesday, the STI ended moderately higher due to gains in the industrial sector and varied performances in the financial and property sectors.
For the day, the index rose by 11.64 points or 0.35 percent to close at 3,330.09, within a trading range of 3,320.20 to 3,335.61.
Key movers included:
- CapitaLand Investment, which increased by 1.14 percent;
- City Developments, which surged by 1.88 percent;
- DBS Group, which dipped by 0.20 percent;
- Genting Singapore, which advanced by 0.55 percent;
- Keppel DC REIT, which plummeted by 1.64 percent;
- Keppel Ltd and Jardine Matheson, both up by 0.45 percent;
- Mapletree Industrial Trust, which declined by 0.45 percent;
- Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, which gained 0.42 percent;
- SATS, which decreased by 0.38 percent;
- Seatrium Limited, which skyrocketed by 1,900.00 percent;
- SembCorp Industries, which climbed by 1.36 percent;
- Singapore Technologies Engineering, which lost 0.24 percent;
- SingTel, which rallied by 1.23 percent;
- Thai Beverage, which rose by 1.00 percent;
- Wilmar International, which went up by 0.32 percent;
- Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which surged by 3.11 percent.
Other players such as Mapletree Logistics Trust, Hongkong Land, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Venture Corporation, Frasers Logistics, Comfort DelGro, and Emperador remained unchanged.
Wall Street provided little direction, as the major indices started and ended Tuesday's session with mixed results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 216.73 points, or 0.55 percent, to close at 38,852.86. Conversely, the NASDAQ rose 99.09 points, or 0.59 percent, to reach a record high of 17,019.88, while the S&P 500 inched up by 1.32 points, or 0.02 percent, to settle at 5,306.04.
The NASDAQ's continued ascent was bolstered by a substantial increase in Nvidia (NVDA) shares, which jumped 7.1 percent to a record high. In contrast, a significant drop in Merck (MRK) shares dragged the Dow lower; the pharmaceutical company fell by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board reported an unexpectedly substantial improvement in consumer confidence for May.
On the commodities front, oil prices climbed on Tuesday. This increase is attributed to expectations of heightened demand during the U.S. driving season and anticipation that OPEC will extend its production cuts into the next quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July closed up by $2.11 or 2.7 percent at $79.83 per barrel.
