The Singapore stock market managed to break its four-day losing streak on Tuesday, during which it had declined by more than 65 points or 1.8 percent. The Straits Times Index (STI) now sits slightly above the 3,585-point level and is expected to remain near this range on Tuesday.
The global outlook for the Asian markets remains uncertain, primarily due to the ambiguous prospects regarding interest rates. European markets experienced a downturn, while U.S. markets saw slight gains, suggesting that Asian markets are likely to show mixed results.
On Monday, the STI ended modestly higher, aided by gains in financial shares, despite weaknesses in property stocks and a mixed performance from industrial companies.
For the day, the STI rose by 11.93 points or 0.33 percent, closing at 3,585.29, within a trading range of 3,566.00 to 3,594.20.
Among actively traded stocks:
- CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 1.40 percent.
- CapitaLand Investment surged 1.30 percent.
- City Developments decreased by 0.18 percent.
- DBS Group climbed 1.20 percent.
- Genting Singapore increased 1.16 percent.
- Hongkong Land dropped 0.54 percent.
- Keppel DC REIT declined 0.91 percent.
- Keppel Ltd rose 0.15 percent.
- Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust fell 1.33 percent.
- Mapletree Industrial Trust dipped 2.02 percent.
- Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation edged down 0.07 percent.
- SATS gained 0.56 percent.
- Seatrium Limited soared 2.89 percent.
- SembCorp Industries and UOL Group both decreased by 1.07 percent.
- Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.87 percent.
- SingTel rose 0.93 percent.
- Thai Beverage advanced 0.94 percent.
- Wilmar International slipped 0.30 percent.
- Yangzijiang Financial surged 5.26 percent.
- Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 2.39 percent.
- Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Logistics Trust, and Emperador remained unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers cautious optimism, as major indices opened flat on Monday and traded near the unchanged line for most of the session before a late rally pushed them into positive territory by the close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 17.15 points or 0.04 percent, reaching a record high of 42,330.15. The NASDAQ gained 69.58 points or 0.38 percent, closing at 18,189.17, while the S&P 500 rose 24.31 points or 0.42 percent to end at a record high of 5,762.48.
Stocks initially faced pressure following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who suggested that while the central bank will continue to lower interest rates, the path is not predetermined.
Powell's remarks tempered some of the optimism that the Fed would aggressively cut interest rates in the coming months.
The Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for November 6-7. According to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, there is a 65.3 percent probability of a 25 basis points rate cut and a 34.7 percent chance of a 50 basis points cut.
Oil futures settled flat on Monday, as uncertainty regarding oil demand from China weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November closed down by $0.01, ending at $68.17 a barrel.
