FX.co ★ Singapore Shares May End Losing Streak

The Singapore stock market has experienced a decrease in two consecutive sessions, falling nearly 15 points or 0.5%. The Straits Times Index is now slightly over the 3,170-point plateau, although it could potentially stabilise on Tuesday.

Globally, the forecast for Asian markets is optimistic, with technology and oil stocks likely to provide a boost. Although the European markets experienced a decline, the U.S. markets wrapped up on a higher note, and it's expected that the Asian markets will follow this upward trend.

The STI ended nearly on par on Monday despite the fluctuating performances of financial shares, property stocks, and industrial issues. The index fell by 1.03 points or 0.03%, closing at 3,171.93 after swinging between 3,165.79 and 3,175.86.

Among the active companies, City Developments saw a decrease of 1.02%, while Comfort DelGro fell by 0.72%, DBS Group grew 0.66%, and Emperador soared 8.75%. Genting Singapore reduced by 0.56%, Keppel DC REIT dropped 0.60%, Keppel Ltd fell back 1.51%, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust crashed 1.56%, and Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.69%. On the contrary, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 0.30%, SATS slumped 0.78%, Seatrium Limited dropped sharply by 8.99%, and SembCorp Industries rallied 1.19%. Singapore Technologies Engineering decreased by 0.51%, SingTel rose by 0.40%, Thai Beverage plunged 2.00%, while both Wilmar International and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding increased 0.59%. Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.56%, while Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Investment Mapletree Industrial Trust, Frasers Logistics, and Hongkong Land remained steady.

Turning to Wall Street, the major averages opened higher on Monday and sustained this growth throughout the trading session. The Dow grew by 75.66 points or 0.20% to conclude at 38,790.43, the NASDAQ surged 130.27 points or 0.82% to close at 16,103.45, and the S&P 500 rose by 32.33 points or 0.63% to finish at 5,149.42. Technology stocks led this rally, with strong contributions from Alphabet (GOOGL) and Nvidia (NVDA).

Traders are looking forward to the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, with expectations that interest rates will remain unchanged due to recent inflation readings dampening the optimism for a rate cut in June.

U.S. economic news revealed an unexpected boost in U.S. homebuilder confidence in March, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Meanwhile, oil prices rose on Monday due to supply concerns brought about by rising geopolitical risks, such as continuous drone attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil refineries. A reported drop in crude exports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia also fueled this increase. Consequently, the West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April jumped $1.68 or 2.1% to $82.72 a barrel.