The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in consecutive trading days, accelerating more than 80 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,220-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished sharply higher on Wednesday with gains across the board, especially from the financials, industrials and trusts.
For the day, the index jumped 47.05 points or 1.48 percent to finish at 3,220.98 after trading between 3,189.65 and 3,228.61.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT strengthened 1.08 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust climbed 1.05 percent, CapitaLand Investment perked 0.28 percent, City Developments and SingTel both were up 0.42 percent, Comfort DelGro increased 0.85 percent, DBS Group spiked 1.79 percent, Emperador advanced 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore soared 1.87 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.66 percent, Keppel Corp rallied 1.69 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust surged 2.91 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.43 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust rose 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 1.31 percent, SATS added 0.81 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 1.72 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering improved 0.86 percent, Thai Beverage gained 0.79 percent, United Overseas Bank surged 2.86 percent, Wilmar International spiked 1.47 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.39 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gathered 0.84 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday and stayed that way until the FOMC announcement, which caused them to plummet.
