Singapore Stock Market Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 80 points or 1.7 percent. The Straits Times Index sits just above the 4,930-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amidst profit taking and contrasting earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were mixed with a touch of weakness, and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday as the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues were mostly in the green.

For the day, the index added 20.69 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 4,930.03 after trading between 4,902.78 and 4,931.10.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust climbed 0.85 percent, while CapitaLand Investment advanced 0.65 percent, DBS Group gained 0.42 percent, DFI Retail Group gathered 0.24 percent, Hongkong Land accelerated 1.44 percent, Keppel DC REIT increased 0.45 percent, Keppel Ltd rose 0.27 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.28 percent, Seatrium Limited sank 0.47 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 3.55 percent, Singapore Exchange perked 0.17 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering soared 1.79 percent, SingTel was up 0.22 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 1.05 percent, United Overseas Bank dipped 0.18 percent, UOL Group added 0.55 percent, Wilmar International improved 0.58 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 1.49 percent and Genting Singapore, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, SATS, City Developments, Singapore Airlines and Venture Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and then mostly hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow rose 55.96 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 49,071.56, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.33 points or 0.72 percent to end at 23,685.12 and the S&P 500 dipped 9.02 points or 0.13 percent to close at 6,969.01.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came amid a steep drop by shares of Microsoft (MSFT) after the company reported slowing cloud computing growth in its fiscal second quarter and provided disappointing third quarter guidance.

Profit taking may also have contributed to the early weakness after the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the 7,000 level for the first time during Wednesday's session.

A strong performance by shares of Meta Platforms (META) may have limited the downside after the Facebook parent reported better than expected fourth quarter results and forecast first quarter revenues above estimates.

Crude oil prices spiked on Thursday as Iran shrugged off U.S. threats to negotiate or face attack, causing concerns over possible supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $2.23 or 3.53 percent at $65.44 per barrel.