Continued Consolidation Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, stumbling more than 80 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,180-point plateau and it's expected to see continued consolidation on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be soft on concerns about interest rates and the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were down again and the Asian markets, despite being badly oversold at this point, are expected to at least open in the red.

The STI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index sank 45.13 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 3,181.97 after trading between 3,169.80 and 3,223.51. Volume was 1.56 billion shares worth 1.70 billion Singapore dollars. There were 413 decliners and 194 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT and Singapore Technologies Engineering both fell 1.09 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust weakened 1.97 percent, CapitaLand Investment skidded 1.66 percent, City Developments tanked 2.97 percent, Comfort DelGro tumbled 2.86 percent, DBS Group was down 0.63 percent, Emperador advanced 1.01 percent, Genting Singapore slipped 0.64 percent, Hongkong Land slumped 2.08 percent, Keppel Corp surrendered 2.77 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust stumbled 2.20 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 1.63 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dipped 0.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 1.16 percent, SATS climbed 1.04 percent, SembCorp Industries plunged 3.75 percent, SingTel eased 0.38 percent, Thai Beverage slid 0.80 percent, United Overseas Bank shed 1.14 percent, Wilmar International retreated 2.28 percent, Yangzijiang Financial declined 2.50 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 10.48 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be negative as the major averages were unable to hold early support on Monday, accelerating to the downside as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 329.60 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 29.260.81, while the NASDAQ dropped 65.00 points or 0.60 percent to close at 10.802.92 and the S&P 500 fell 38.19 points or 1.03 percent to end at 3,655.04.

A continued surge in the value of the U.S. dollar contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, with the greenback hitting a record high versus the British pound.

Concerns about the outlook for the global economy also continued to weigh on the markets amid worries the increases in interest rates around the world will lead to a recession. The Fed and other central banks have indicated they plan to continue raising rates in an effort to combat stubbornly elevated inflation.

The extended weakness on Wall Street also came amid a spike in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note soaring to a 12-year high.

Crude oil prices tumbled to near nine-month lows on Monday, extending losses from the previous session amid rising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand due to increasing possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $2.03 or 2.6 percent at $76.71 a barrel.