Continued Consolidation Predicted For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slumping more than 15 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,220-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on growth and inflation concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index dipped 3.95 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,222.88 after trading between 3,210.49 and 3,245.18.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT declined 1.08 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slid 0.52 percent, CapitaLand Investment skidded 0.95 percent, City Developments shed 0.74 percent, DBS Group collected 0.21 percent, Emperador climbed 0.99 percent, Genting Singapore fell 0.56 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.41 percent, Keppel Corp lost 0.58 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.97 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.43 percent, SATS sank 0.77 percent, Seatrium Limited plunged 2.78 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 2.68 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering improved 0.78 percent, SingTel eased 0.43 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 0.86 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.82 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rallied 1.20 percent and Comfort DelGro, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Yangzijiang Financial and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 198.78 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 34,443.19, while the NASDAQ sank 148.48 points or 1.06 percent to end at 13,872.47 and the S&P 500 lost 31.35 points or 0.70 percent to close at 4,465.48.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for the global economy and inflation concerns.

Stocks saw further downside following a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in August - sending treasury yields higher.

In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of July.

Crude oil prices extended recent gains and moved higher on Wednesday, lifting the futures contract to a fresh nine-month closing high - fueled by the decision by Russia and Saudi Arabia to extend production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.85 or 1 percent at $87.54 a barrel.