Singapore Bourse May Extend Monday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the four-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 20 points or 0.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,610-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with gold, oil and technology shares likely to lead the way higher. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues. For the day, the index improved 40.51 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 4,610.29 after trading between 4,590.97 and 4,613.82. Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT sank 0.72 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added 0.43 percent, CapitaLand Investment dropped 0.74 percent, City Developments rose 0.25 percent, DBS Group jumped 1.51 percent, Genting Singapore expanded 0.69 percent, Hongkong Land was up 0.14 percent, Keppel Ltd rallied 1.69 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation vaulted 1.38 percent, SATS gained 0.27 percent, Seatrium Limited surged 2.90 percent, SembCorp Industries accelerated 1.71 percent, Singapore Airlines perked 0.16 percent, Singapore Exchange climbed 1.07 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 2.44 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 1.09 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.20 percent, UOL Group lost 0.23 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.98 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding soared 2.67 percent and Keppel DC REIT, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, DFI Retail Group, SingTel and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and spent all day in the green.

The Dow climbed 227.79 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 48,362.68, while the NASDAQ jumped 121.21 points or 0.52 percent to close at 23,428.83 and the S&P 500 added 43.99 points or 0.64 percent to end at 6,878.49.

The strength on Wall Street came as on continued strength among technology stocks, with companies like Oracle (ORCL) and AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) leading the charge.

Overall trading activity was subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data keeping traders on the sidelines. Some traders may also be away as they look to get a head start on the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday as the conflict between the U.S. and Venezuela continue to escalate, while Russia and Ukraine remain heavily engaged. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.43 or 2.53 percent at $57.95 per barrel. Closer to home, Singapore will see November numbers for consumer prices later today; in October, overall inflation was flat on month and up 1.2 percent on year, while core CPI also was up an annual 1.2 percent.