Singapore Shares May Take Further Damage On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, shedding more than 30 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,540-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on valuation concerns, especially among technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index dipped 2.48 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 4,543.59 after trading between 4,532.82 and 4,545.98.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.43 percent, while CapitaLand Investment expanded 0.37 percent, City Developments dropped 0.54 percent, Comfort DelGro rallied 0.68 percent, DBS Group was up 0.02 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 2.57 percent, Genting Singapore declined 0.63 percent, Hongkong Land spiked 1.26 percent, Keppel DC REIT lost 0.42 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.50 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation retreated 0.70 percent, SATS perked 0.29 percent, Seatrium Limited and UOL Group both shed 0.46 percent, SembCorp Industries improved 0.62 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering soared 2.24 percent, SingTel rose 0.41 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.24 percent, Wilmar International gathered 0.30 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding stumbled 0.87 percent and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage, Yangzijiang Financial and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages spent the first half of Monday's trade relatively flat before tumbling in the afternoon, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 557.24 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 46,590.24, while the NASDAQ dropped 192.51 points or 0.84 percent to close at 22,708.07 and the S&P 500 sank 61.70 points or 0.92 percent to end at 6,672.41.

The weakness on Wall Street came as valuation concerns resurfaced ahead of the release of quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA) after the markets close on Wednesday.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of U.S. economic data that was delayed due to the government shutdown. While the reports will be backward looking, the data could still impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting in December.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Tuesday as long-term oversupply concerns of a supply-demand mismatch continue to linger. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery dipped $0.09 or 0.13 percent at $60.01 per barrel.