The Singapore stock market has finished higher in seven straight sessions, advancing more than 140 points or 3.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,590-point plateau and it may see mild upside again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat ahead of the Federal Reserves monetary policy decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly higher again on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index collected 22.99 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 3,593.42 after trading between 3,572.16 and 3,597.95.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust sank 0.46 percent, while CapitaLand Investment soared 2.41 percent, City Developments accelerated 1.65 percent, Emperador advanced 1.16 percent, Genting Singapore improved 1.19 percent, Hongkong Land was up 0.27 percent, Keppel DC REIT gained 0.89 percent, Keppel Ltd surged 2.53 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust strengthened 1.35 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust perked 0.39 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust rose 0.69 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.33 percent, SATS gathered 0.55 percent, Seatrium Limited spiked 1.80 percent, SembCorp Industries increased 1.17 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering picked up 0.43 percent, SingTel climbed 1.22 percent, Wilmar International added 0.96 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.47 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rallied 1.57 percent and Comfort DelGro, DBS Group and Thai Beverage were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened slightly higher on Tuesday, hugged the line for most of the day before ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow sank 60.32 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 41,606.18, while the NASDAQ added 35.93 points or 0.20 percent to close at 17,628.06 and the S&P 500 perked 1.49 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,634.58.
Optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to early strength on Wall Street, but buying interest waned over the course of the session.
Stocks ended the day little changed following the release of a Commerce Department report unexpectedly showing a modest increase by U.S. retail sales in the month of August.
While the data is positive for the economy, it was seen as reducing the likelihood the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by 50 basis points when announcing its highly anticipated monetary policy decision later today.
Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday as concerns about tight supply in the market offset continued uncertainty about the outlook for demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.10 or 1.5 percent at $71.19 a barrel.