The Singapore stock market on Wednesday halted the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 50 points or 1.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,270-point plateau and it's likely to be stuck in neutral on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed after the Federal Reserve signaled a rate hike in the near future, although it's already been largely priced in. Surging crude oil prices should also limit the downside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourse were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and industrials.
For the day, the index gained 23.81 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 3,271.57 after trading between 3,250.21 and 3,280.48. Volume was 1.21 billion shares worth 1.08 billion Singapore dollars. There were 263 gainers and 190 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dropped 1.00 percent, City Developments strengthened 1.42 percent, Comfort DelGro improved 0.74 percent, Dairy Farm International lost 0.70 percent, DBS Group collected 0.31 percent, Genting Singapore jumped 1.35 percent, Keppel Corp gained 0.75 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust and Hongkong Land both increased 0.55 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation spiked 1.65 percent, SembCorp Industries advanced 0.90 percent, Singapore Airlines rallied 1.20 percent, Singapore Exchange accelerated 1.60 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering was up 0.27 percent, SingTel added 0.81 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.77 percent, United Overseas Bank climbed 0.98 percent, Wilmar International surged 2.40 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding soared 2.38 percent and SATS, Singapore Press Holdings and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened firmly higher on Wednesday before late selling sent the Dow and S&P into the red.
The Dow dropped 129.64 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 34,168.09, while the NASDAQ rose 2.82 points or 0.02 percent to close at 13,542.12 and the S&P 500 fell 6.52 points or 0.15 percent to end at 4,349.93.
The late-day pullback on Wall Street came after the Fed indicated that it plans to begin raising interest rates "soon," citing elevated inflation and a strong labor market. The Fed left interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels as widely expected but said "it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate."
The central bank also said it would further reduce the pace of its bond purchases to $30 billion per month beginning in February, with the Fed saying it expects to end its asset purchase program by early March.
In a separate statement, the Fed outlined plans to significantly reduce the size of its balance sheet, saying it expects to start the reductions after it begins raising interest rates.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday as prices climbed amid rising geopolitical tensions. U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Moscow of damaging sanctions, including measures personally targeting President Vladmir Putin, if Russia invades Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $87.35 a barrel, the highest settlement since October 2014.