Soft Start Expected For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day slide in which it had slipped almost 50 points or 1.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,510-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index added 6.16 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 4,513.24 after trading between 4,502.87 and 4,520.05.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rallied 1.31 percent, while CapitaLand Investment sank 0.77 percent, City Developments and DBS Group both rose 0.28 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.70 percent, DFI Retail Group jumped 1.50 percent, Genting Singapore and SembCorp Industries both shed 0.68 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.50 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.32 percent, SATS increased 0.59 percent, Seatrium Limited dropped 0.95 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.49 percent, SingTel improved 0.66 percent, Thai Beverage climbed 1.08 percent, United Overseas Bank slid 0.46 percent, UOL Group retreated 1.75 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.65 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 2.22 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell 0.59 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Hongkong Land, Keppel DC REIT, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and fairly flat and stayed that way through the session.

The Dow dropped 179.03 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 47,560.29, while the NASDAQ rose 30.58 points or 0.13 percent to close at 23,576.49 and the S&P 500 eased 6.00 points or 0.09 percent to end at 6,840.51.

Traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, there is considerable uncertainty about the longer-term outlook for rates.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to the wording of the Fed's accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged slightly higher in October.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday as Iraq resumed crude flow from Lukoil's West Qurna oil fields while the U.S. dollar gained ground after job data from the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.66 or 1.12 percent at $58.22 per barrel.