The Singapore stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 70 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,475-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests profit taking, particularly among the technology sectors. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the properties, weakness from the industrials and a mixed picture from the financial hares.
For the day, the index gained 15.13 point or 0.44 percent to finish at 3,475.06 after trading between 3,466.63 and 3,485.90.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust improved 1.49 percent, while City Developments accelerated 2.26 percent, Comfort DelGro increased 1.47 percent, DBS Group collected 0.60 percent, Emperador and Genting Singapore both advanced 1.18 percent, Hongkong Land added 0.61 percent, Keppel DC REIT rallied 3.24 percent, Keppel Ltd shed 0.45 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust spiked 3.25 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust soared 3.33 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust surged 4.76 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.20 percent, SATS strengthened 1.96 percent, Seatrium Limited jumped 2.16 percent, SembCorp Industries slumped 1.04 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.23 percent, SingTel fell 0.34 percent, Thai Beverage skyrocketed 5.43 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.64 percent, Yangzijiang Financial climbed 1.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.30 percent and CapitaLand Investment was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is largely negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday; the Dow inched barely into the green, while the S&P and NASDAQ retreated from record highs.
The Dow rose 32.39 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 39,753.75, while the NASDAQ plummeted 364.04 points or 1.95 percent to close at 18,283.41 and the S&P 500 sank 49.37 points or 0.88 percent to end at 5,584.54.
Optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to early strength on Wall Street, although it quickly waned as traders seem to have already priced in a rate cut in September.
The subsequent sell-off came as traders cashed in on the recent strength in the markets, with some of the biggest tech winners of the year like AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) leading the pullback.
Nonetheless, the Federal Reserve is still seen as likely to lower rates in September after a report from the Labor Department showing showed prices in the U.S. unexpectedly edged slightly lower in June.
Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, lifted by hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve after the encouraging inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.52 at $82.62 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will release preliminary Q1 data for gross domestic product later this morning; in the three months prior, GDP was up 0.1 percent on quarter and 2.7 percent on year.