The Singapore stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 25 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,200-point plateau and it's tipped to open higher again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on encouraging news for interest rates. The European markets had modest gains and the U.S. bourses surged, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index gained 13.02 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 3,205.14 after trading between 3,178.67 and 3,207.32. Volume was 1.10 billion shares worth 786 million Singapore dollars. There were 226 gainers and 183 decliners.
Among the actives, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 3.87 percent, while Yangzijiang Financial soared 3.80 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 1.69 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust spiked 1.12 percent, SATS slumped 1.01 percent, United Overseas Bank accelerated 0.94 percent, Keppel Corp jumped 0.91 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 0.82 percent, Comfort DelGro strengthened 0.70 percent, DBS Group climbed 0.67 percent, Mapletree Logistics advanced 0.57 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust and UOL Group both added 0.54 percent, City Developments gained 0.51 percent, Wilmar International improved 0.50 percent, SingTel increased 0.38 percent, SembCorp Industries lost 0.34 percent, CapitaLand Investment rose 0.26 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering perked 0.24 percent, Singapore Exchange was up 0.10 percent and Genting Singapore, CapitaLand Integrated Trust, Ascendas REIT, Thai Beverage, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Frasers Logistics all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but skyrocketed late in the day after the FOMC rate decision.
The Dow spiked 436.05 points or 1.37 percent to finish at 32,197.59, while the NASDAQ surged 469.85 points or 4.06 percent to end at 12,032.42 and the S&P 500 jumped 102.56 points or 2.62 percent to close at 4,023.61.
Stocks were steady in early trading and then accelerated to the upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference.
While the Fed announced another 75-basis-point interest rate, as widely expected, comments from Powell hinted at a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes at future meetings.
Crude oil prices surged higher Wednesday after data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while cuts in Russian gas flows to Europe also contributed as oil's sharp rise. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.28 or 2.4 percent at $97.26 a barrel.
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