The Singapore stock market on Tuesday snapped a two-day losing streak, during which it had slipped more than 20 points or 0.6%. The Straits Times Index (STI) now sits just above the 3,590-point plateau, although it may remain flat on Wednesday.

The global forecast for Asian markets offers little clarity, although technology shares may provide a slight boost. European markets were down, and US bourses were mixed, suggesting Asian markets may fall somewhere in between.

The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday, with mixed performances from financial shares, property stocks, and industrial issues.

For the day, the index added 6.28 points or 0.18% to finish at the daily high of 3,590.36, after trading as low as 3,568.70.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust skidded 0.97%, while CapitaLand Investment slid 0.35%, City Developments fell 0.39%, DBS Group collected 0.54%, Emperador and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both jumped 1.19%, Genting Singapore climbed 0.60%, Hongkong Land tumbled 1.52%, Keppel Ltd added 0.31%, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.75%, Mapletree Industrial Trust plunged 1.65%, Mapletree Logistics Trust retreated 1.47%, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 1.05%, SATS lost 0.51%, SembCorp Industries declined 1.34%, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.64%, SingTel shed 0.62%, Wilmar International was down 0.31%, Yangzijiang Financial slumped 1.22%, and Comfort DelGro, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, DFI Retail Group, Seatrium Limited, Keppel DC REIT, and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

Wall Street provided a murky lead as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely stayed flat before ending mixed.

The Dow slumped 154.52 points or 0.36% to finish at 42,233.05, while the NASDAQ jumped 145.56 points or 0.78% to close at a record 18,712.75, and the S&P 500 rose 9.40 points or 0.16% to end at 5,832.92.

The NASDAQ's climb came ahead of earnings news from major tech companies, including Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Apple (AAPL).

Semiconductor stocks showed a particularly strong move, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.3%.

In US economic news, the Conference Board reported a significant improvement in US consumer confidence in October. Additionally, the Labour Department noted that US job openings fell to 7.44 million in September from a downwardly revised 7.86 million in August.

Oil futures settled lower again on Tuesday amid concerns that crude supplies will far exceed near-term demand. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December ended down US$0.17 or about 0.25% at US$67.21 a barrel.

RTTNews