Little Movement Expected For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slipping more than 90 points or 3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,145-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, with bargain hunting pitted against interest rate concerns. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index lost 38.85 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 3,144.76 after trading between 3,136.44 and 3,179.81.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and City Developments both declined 1.58 percent, while CapitaLand Investment plummeted 3.80 percent, Comfort DelGro lost 0.68 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.28 percent, Emperador gained 1.16 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 2.71 percent, Keppel DC REIT fell 0.59 percent, Keppel Ltd skidded 1.29 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust retreated 1.59 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust weakened 1.30 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust surrendered 2.10 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slumped 1.46 percent, SATS tumbled 1.98 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.95 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering and SingTel both dropped 1.28 percent, Thai Beverage sank 1.03 percent, Wilmar International plunged 3.15 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 1.54 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rallied 1.69 percent and Genting Singapore and Seatrium Limited were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and, after some volatility, ended on opposite sides of the line and little changed.

The Dow added 63.86 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 37,798.97, while the NASDAQ shed 19.77 points or 0.12 percent to close at 15,865.25 and the S&P 500 sank 10.41 points or 0.21 percent to end at 5,051.41.

The lack of direction shown by the markets came as traders weighed the idea of picking up stocks at relatively reduced levels against concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

The yield on the benchmark ten-year note reached its highest intraday levels in almost six months after the Federal Reserve released a report showing a continued increase in U.S. industrial production in the month of March.

Adding to the rate worries, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated in remarks that rates are likely to remain higher for longer amid a "lack of progress" toward reaching the central bank's inflation goal.

Crude oil showed a lack of direction on Tuesday before easing slightly as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen indicated the U.S. plans to impose new sanctions on Iran in response to the country's attack on Israel. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery dipped $0.05 or 0.1 percent to $85.36 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will see March data for non-oil domestic exports later this morning; in February, NODX was down 4.8 percent on month and 0.1 percent on year for a trade surplus of SGD5.968 billion.