Singapore Stock Market May Halt Losing Streak On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 40 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,235-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher, with upside limited by concern over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the properties and mixed performances from the financials and industrials.

For the day, the index slipped 12.73 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 3,233.48 after trading between 3,227.90 and 3,246.60. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 992.3 million Singapore dollars. There were 260 decliners and 225 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT skidded 0.69 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 0.49 percent, CapitaLand Investment tanked 1.31 percent, City Developments retreated 0.73 percent, Comfort DelGro weakened 0.70 percent, DBS Group rose 0.15 percent, Hongkong Land eased 0.20 percent, Keppel Corp slipped 0.28 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.53 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Thai Beverage both declined 0.76 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.57 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation tumbled 0.83 percent, SATS slumped 0.72 percent, Singapore Exchange and Keppel DC REIT both lost 0.51 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dipped 0.26 percent, SingTel slid 0.38 percent, United Overseas Bank dropped 0.58 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.32 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 1.06 percent and Genting Singapore, SembCorp Industries, Wilmar International and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages shook off early weakness and moved quickly to the upside, although they finished well off of the day's highs.

The Dow added 59.64 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,969.23, while the NASDAQ gained 50.23 points or 0.41 percent to end at 12,431.53 and the S&P 500 rose 12.04 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,140.77.

The early weakness followed comments from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who reiterated the U.S. central bank's commitment to bringing inflation under control through tighter monetary policy.

Investors also looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's annual Jackson Hole economic symposium later this week for clues about the bank's outlook for the economy and interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods were virtually unchanged in July. Also, the rate of decline for pending home sales slowed from the previous month.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, supported by data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, as well as news that OPEC may cut production to support prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $1.15 or 1.2 percent at $94.89 a barrel.