No Help Yet For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in five straight sessions, slumping more than 150 points or 3.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,825-point plateau and it figures to open under water again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on trade war concerns after China announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in reaction to President Donald Trump's new levies. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are also expected to open under pressure.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 116.37 points or 2.95 percent to finish at 3,825.86 after trading between 3,820.00 and 3,910.71.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT was down 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 1.38 percent, CapitaLand Investment surrendered 2.93 percent, City Developments shed 1.62 percent, Comfort DelGro dipped 0.68 percent, DBS Group plummeted 4.88 percent, DFI Retail cratered 4.64 percent, Hongkong Land declined 2.44 percent, Keppel DC REIT added 0.47 percent, Keppel Ltd crashed 3.21 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slipped 0.79 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 1.42 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust slumped 2.24 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation tumbled 2.75 percent, SATS sank 1.70 percent, Seatrium Limited stumbled 3.00 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 3.17 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slid 0.89 percent, SingTel skidded 1.94 percent, Wilmar International dropped 1.80 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 2.56 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plunged 3.98 percent and Genting Singapore and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains brutal as the major averages opened with heavy losses and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow plummeted 2,231.07 points or 5.50 percent to finish at 38,314.86, while the NASDAQ tumbled 962.82 points or 5.82 percent to close at 15,587.79 and the S&P 500 plunged 322.44 points or 5.97 percent to end at 5,074.08.

The extended nosedive on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about a global trade war, triggered by the tariff polices Trump announced last week.

China announced a 34 percent tariff will be imposed on all imported goods from the U.S. as of April 10, while Canada and the European Union are also preparing countermeasures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.

Crude oil prices showed another substantial move to the downside on Friday on continuing concerns about the impact a global trade war will have on fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery plunged $4.95 or 7.4 percent to $62 a barrel, a three-year low.