Singapore’s STI is up 0.5% at 3196.55 midday, after managing to not only hold on to early gains, but improve on them, with buying seen in recently beaten down blue chips such as Genting Singapore (G13.SG), +0.5% at $2.08, SingTel (Z74.SG), +1.3% at $3.11, and Noble (N21.SG), +0.5% at $2.18, with Golden Agri (E5H.SG), +0.7% at $0.725. 

 

Volume is flat with Tuesday, with 955 million shares traded worth $774 million; gainers and decliners are evenly matched on the broad market. 

 

The next major event for global markets is the FOMC decision due later in the global day; CIMB economist Song Seng Wun says “unless there’s a huge surprise, or any indication in their statement the U.S. economy is on a much more stable footing, which would be supportive of an earlier-than-expected return to policy normalization, then we’ll probably just basically take it in our stride.” 

 

Analysts tip 3180 as support for the STI, with resistance around 3200-3206.