Singapore Stock Market May Test Support At 3,200 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 90 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,230-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns about economic outlook and expectations for interest rates. The Eruopean and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index shed 14.96 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 3,232.74 after trading between 3,228.34 and 3,263.23.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT stumbled 0.74 percent, while CapitaLand Investment slid 0.32 percent, DBS Group declined 0.80 percent, Genting Singapore shed 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 1.11 percent, Keppel Corp sank 0.57 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 0.64 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.45 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slumped 0.79 percent, SATS retreated 1.13 percent, Seatrium Limited jumped 1.50 percent, SembCorp Industries tumbled 1.74 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.26 percent, SingTel fell 0.41 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.88 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.55 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.39 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.59 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, City Developments, Comfort DelGro, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 361.24 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 34,946.39, while the NASDAQ slumped 157.28 points or 1.14 percent to close at 13,631.05 and the S&P 500 sank 51.86 points or 1.16 percent to end at 4,437.86.

Worries about the health of the Chinese economy, and concerns that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates higher for a longer time to contain inflation weigh on sentiment.

A warning from Fitch that it may have to downgrade credit ratings of several banks, including JP Morgan, is hurting as well.

Oil prices fell sharply Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand following a batch of weak economic data from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September sank $1.52 or 1.8 percent at $80.99 a barrel.