The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, gathering almost a dozen points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times index now rests just beneath the 3,585-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to poor earnings results and a drop in crude oil prices. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower - and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials were capped by weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the industrials.
For the day, the index picked up 5.02 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 3,584.56 after trading between 3,506.45 and 3,535.11. Volume was 1.49 billion shares worth 1.22 billion Singapore dollars. There were 246 decliners and 187 gainers.
Among the actives, Thai Beverage surged 8.70 percent, while Venture Corporation plummeted 8.49 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding soared 1.68 percent, DBS Group spiked 1.21 percent, Ascendas REIT tumbled 1.11 percent, CapitaLand Commercial Trust skidded 1.10 percent, CapitaLand Mall Trust and City Developments both dropped 0.95 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.91 percent, Genting Singapore shed 0.83 percent, Keppel Corp lost 0.36 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.31 percent, SingTel and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation both added 0.29 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.20 percent and Hutchison Port Holdings, Golden Agri-Resources, StarHub and Wilmar International were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks failed to sustain an initial upward move and moved sharply lower on Tuesday.
The Dow shed 424.56 points or 1.74 percent to 24,024.13, while the NASDAQ lost 121.25 points or 1.70 percent to 7,007.35 and the S&P fell 35.73 points or 1.34 percent to 2,634.56.
The sell-off on Wall Street came as traders reacted to uninspired earnings news from several big-name companies, including 3M Corp. (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Travelers (TRV) and Coca-Cola (KO).
Selling pressure was also generated by a continued increase in U.S. treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note rising above 3 percent for the first time since 2014.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a bigger than expected increase in new home sales in March. Also, the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in consumer confidence in April.
Crude oil futures reversed course Tuesday, unable to extend four-year highs thanks to profit taking and Iran's resistance to further supply cuts. WTI light sweet oil was down 80 cents at $67.86.
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