The Singapore stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 120 points or 3.3% along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,670-point plateau and is tipped to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast is positive after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher, and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and plantation stocks, while the trusts were down and the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index rallied 70.50 points or 1.96% to finish at 3,673.49 after trading between 3,623.56 and 3,686.64.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 2.49%, while CapitaLand Investment plummeted 3.78%, City Developments stumbled 1.89%, Comfort DelGro lost 0.67%, DBS Group surged 6.51%, DFI Retail advanced 0.84%, Emperador dropped 1.16%, Genting Singapore and SembCorp Industries both skidded 1.18%, Hongkong Land sank 0.84%, Keppel DC REIT plunged 3.60%, Keppel Ltd rose 0.16%, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 1.57%, Mapletree Industrial Trust tanked 3.42%, Mapletree Logistics Trust tumbled 3.01%, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation soared 3.79%, SATS shed 0.75%, Seatrium Limited fell 0.51%, Singapore Technologies Engineering jumped 1.51%, SingTel slid 0.31%, Venture Corporation rallied 2.40%, Wilmar International added 0.32%, Yangzijiang Financial declined 2.47%, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 1.18%, and Thai Beverage was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and ended mostly to the upside, with the NASDAQ and S&P both hitting fresh record closing highs.

The Dow eased 0.59 points or 0.00% to finish at 43,729.34, while the NASDAQ surged 285.99 points or 1.51% to close at 19,269.46 and the S&P 500 advanced 44.06 points or 0.74% to end at 5,973.10.

The continued strength on Wall Street reflected ongoing optimism about the impact of former President Donald Trump's return to the White House, which is expected to be positive for corporations.

Stocks saw continued strength as the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to lower interest rates by a quarter point.

Oil futures settled notably higher on Thursday as traders weighed the potential impact of Donald Trump's presidency on the geopolitical scene, against the interest rate cut announcement by the Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.67 or 0.93% at $72.36 a barrel.

RTTNews