Bargain Hunting May Boost Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, giving away more than 95 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Straits Tines Index now rests just above the 3,790-point plateau although it's due for support on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support from the oil companies likely offset by weakness from the technology shares. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The STI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks, REITS and industrial issues. For the day, the index slipped 9.86 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 3,791.70 after trading between 3,775.00 and 3,796.74. Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment dropped 0.81 percent, while City Developments slid 0.59 percent, Comfort DelGro shed 0.69 percent, DBS Group eased 0.14 percent, Genting Singapore and Keppel DC REIT both plunged 2.67 percent, Keppel Ltd dipped 0.29 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust slumped 0.89 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.76 percent, SATS skidded 0.83 percent, Seatrium Limited stumbled 0.94 percent, SembCorp Industries advanced 0.92 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.65 percent, SingTel jumped 1.63 percent, Thai Beverage plummeted 2.73 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.66 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tanked 1.67 percent and Hongkong Land, Yangzijiang Financial, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Emperador, Mapletree Logistics Trust and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to higher as the major averages opened on opposite sides of the unchanged line on Monday and finished in the same manner.

The Dow rallied 359.95 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 42,298.40, while the NASDAQ slumped 74.01 points or 0.39 percent to close at 19,087.62 and the S&P 500 rose 8.27 points or 0.14 percent to end at 5,835.31.

Weakness in the tech sector weighed on Wall Street early in the session, as AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) plunged by as much as 4.7 percent.

Ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates also generated negative sentiment following last Friday's stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the trading session, however, leading some traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels as the S&P 500 rebounded from its lowest intraday level in over two months.

Oil prices rose sharply to a five-month high on Monday amid potential supply risks after the U.S. imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia's oil exports, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed up $2.25 or nearly 3 percent at $78.82 a barrel.