(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in six straight sessions, collecting more than 110 points or 3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,820-point plateau although investors are likely to lock in gains on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later today. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the industrials and mixed performances from the financials, properties and REITs.
For the day, the index gained 22.74 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 3,822.68 after trading between 3,810.11 and 3,842.71.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust sank 0.51 percent, while CapitaLand Investment fell 0.36 percent, City Developments dropped 0.56 percent, Comfort DelGro jumped 1.35 percent, DBS Group advanced 1.00 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 3.94 percent, Emperador climbed 1.20 percent, Genting Singapore rallied 1.28 percent, Hongkong Land surged 3.99 percent, Keppel DC REIT gained 0.45 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.59 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.81 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rose 0.44 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.43 percent, Seatrium Limited improved 0.99 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 2.73 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dipped 0.22 percent, SingTel tumbled 1.27 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.23 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 2.33 percent and Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, Mapletree Logistics Trust and SATS were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat on Thursday and hugged the line for much of the day before slipping under water heading into the close.
The Dow slumped248.33 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 44,765.71, while the NASDAQ shed 34.86 points or 0.18 percent to close at 19,700.26 and the S&P 600 fell 11.38 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,075.11.
Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.
The jobs data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.
While traders have recently expressed greater confidence the Fed will lower rates by another 25 basis points at the December meeting, there remains uncertainty about the likelihood of continued rate cuts at future meetings.
Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday, weighed by weak demand from China and rising production in the United States - although the downside was limited by OPEC's decision to delay a production increase. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.24 or 0.4 percent at $68.30 a barrel.
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