(RTTNews.com) – The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the modest two-day winning streak in which it had advanced just 8 points or 0.2 percent. The Straits Times Index ended just above the 3,435-point plateau, and the market is looking at another firm start on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, thanks to dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. The European and U.S. markets finished in the green, and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the telecoms, property stocks and financial shares were capped by weakness from the plantation sector.
For the day, the index added 16.31 points or 0.48 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,437.61 after trading as low as 3,415.91.
Among the actives, Hongkong Land climbed 1.05 percent, while CapitaMall Trust spiked 1.89 percent, DBS Group collected 0.61 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation added 0.47 percent, Golden Agri-Resources tumbled 2.38 percent, Noble Group dropped 2.30 percent and SingTel surged 2.88 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks moved mostly higher on Tuesday, as traders reacted positively to Yellen’s remarks. The gains lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ added just 7.15 points or 0.1 percent to 4,968.12, while the Dow advanced 92.35 points or 0.5 percent to 18,209.19 and the S&P 500 rose 5.82 points or 0.3 percent to 2,115.48.
The strength followed Yellen’s semi-annual monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, which was widely interrupted as dovish. Yellen indicated that the Fed is not likely to begin raising interest rates for at least the next couple monetary policy meetings.
Traders shrugged off a report from the Conference Board showing a sharp pullback in U.S. consumer confidence in February. A separate report from Standard & Poor’s showed that home prices in major metropolitan areas unexpectedly grew at a faster annual rate in December.
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