The Singapore stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, gathering almost 50 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,180-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with support from oil stocks tempered by weakness from technology shares. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and industrial issues.
For the day, the index jumped 46.88 points or 1.50 percent to finish at 3,181.13 after trading between 3,151.80 and 3,182.53. Volume was 1.6 billion shares worth 1.38 billion Singapore dollars. There were 271 gainers and 202 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gained 0.34 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rallied 1.95 percent, City Developments rose 0.15 percent, Comfort DelGro gathered 0.72 percent, DBS Group surged 2.81 percent, Keppel Corp perked 0.58 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust plummeted 5.21 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tumbled 1.06 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation soared 2.63 percent, SATS jumped 1.29 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 2.49 percent, Singapore Airlines strengthened 1.00 percent, Singapore Exchange lost 0.53 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering advanced 0.53 percent, SingTel added 0.43 percent, United Overseas Bank accelerated 2.30 percent, Wilmar International climbed 1.20 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Dairy Farm International, Thai Beverage, Singapore Press Holdings and Genting Singapore were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the Dow opened higher and stayed that way, the NASDAQ opened lower and stayed that way and the S&P opened higher but fell into the red.
The Dow spiked 214.59 points or 0.59 percent to a record 36,799.65, while the NASDAQ tumbled 210.08 points or 1.33 percent to close at 15,622.72 and the S&P 500 eased 3.02 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,793.54.
The sharp pullback by NASDAQ reflected substantial weakness among software and biotechnology stocks, while financials fueled the Dow.
The continued advance by the Dow also came as traders remain optimistic about the economic outlook even as the U.S. reported more than 1 million new Covid cases on Monday. Indications the new Omicron variant causes milder symptoms has led to hopes the recent surge could actually help to accelerate the end of the pandemic.
Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday after OPEC said it would stick to its plan to raise monthly crude production by 400,000 barrels per day in February. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.91 or 1.2 percent at $76.99 a barrel.