Singapore Bourse Poised To Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 25 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,300-point plateau, and it's expected to take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing anxiety over the outlook for interest rates and tumbling oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to open under pressure.

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

For the day, the index slipped 6.82 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 3,300.04 after trading between 3,291.04 and 3,309.50.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT declined 1.43 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tumbled 1.54 percent, CapitaLand Investment added 0.79 percent, City Developments advanced 0.89 percent, Comfort DelGro and Mapletree Industrial Trust both sank 0.85 percent, DBS Group lost 0.57 percent, Hongkong Land rose 0.43 percent, Keppel Corp soared 2.80 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.58 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tanked 1.78 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dropped 1.07 percent, SATS skidded 1.09 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.06 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 1.40 percent, Thai Beverage gained 0.78 percent, United Overseas Bank jumped 1.11 percent, Yangzijiang Financial slumped 1.37 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 3.05 percent and Wilmar International, Genting Singapore, SingTel and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but faded late, allowing only the NASDAQ to finish in the green.

The Dow shed 84.50 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 33,045.09, while the NASDAQ rose 14.77 points or 0.13 percent to close at 11,507.07 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.29 points or 0.16 percent to end at 3,991.05.

The mixed close on Wall Street followed the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy meeting. The minutes revealed a "few participants" favored raising rates by 50 basis points versus the 25 basis point rate hike that was ultimately announced.

The minutes noted all participants continued to anticipate that ongoing rate increases would be appropriate to achieve the Fed's dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to six consecutive sessions on concerns about the outlook for global demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery plunged $2.41 or 3.1 percent to $73.95 a barrel on its first day as the front month contract.

Closer to home, Singapore will release January numbers for consumer prices later today, with forecasts expecting an annual increase of 5.6 percent for core CPI and 7.1 percent for overall inflation. In December, they were at 5.1 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.