To The Moon

The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight trading days, improving more than 45 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,140-point plateau although it's due for consolidation on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with support from oil stocks likely offset by weakness from technology and retail companies. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the properties and industrials, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index rose 2.67 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 3,140.21 after trading between 3,124.22 and 3,145.17. Volume was 1.30 billion shares worth 1.07 billion Singapore dollars. There were 271 gainers and 221 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rallied 1.05 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.46 percent, CapitaLand Investment advanced 0.78 percent, Comfort DelGro declined 0.71 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.20 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.67 percent, Hongkong Land soared 2.64 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust spiked 1.08 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.38 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 0.58 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.61 percent, SATS perked 0.25 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 1.06 percent, Singapore Exchange climbed 0.94 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.49 percent, SingTel tanked 1.15 percent, United Overseas Bank fell 0.23 percent, Wilmar International gained 0.48 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 2.72 percent and Keppel Corp, Yangzijiang Financial, City Developments and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages shook off early gains and quickly turned lower, finishing the day near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 491.27 points or 1.56 percent to finish at 30,946.99, while the NASDAQ plunged 343.01 points or 2.98 percent to close at 11,181.54 and the S&P 500 slumped 78.56 points or 2.01 percent to end at 3,821.55.

The initial strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to news that China has cut quarantine times for international travelers in a big step toward easing Covid-19 controls.

But buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, with lingering concerns about a potential recession continuing to weigh on the markets.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from the Conference Board showing U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated to its lowest level in over a year in June.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday, extending recent gains after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates indicated that they can barely increase oil production. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended higher by $2.19 or 2 percent at $111.76 per barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release May figures for import prices, export prices and producer prices later today. In April, import prices jumped 24.7 percent on year, export prices spiked 26.3 percent on year and producer prices soared an annual 29.5 percent.