Losing Streak May Continue For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 30 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,085-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, ahead of key data and an OPEC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index fell 8.39 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,086.42 after trading between 3,078.57 and 3,102.59.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT slumped 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dropped 0.53 percent, CapitaLand Investment skidded 0.65 percent, City Developments shed 0.32 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.75 percent, DBS Group fell 0.25 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.39 percent, Keppel Corp tumbled 1.09 percent, Keppel DC REIT spiked 2.11 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.43 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.63 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slid 0.16 percent, SATS retreated 0.74 percent, Seatrium Limited climbed 0.93 percent, SembCorp Industries was down 0.19 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.27 percent, SingTel rallied 1.33 percent, Thai Beverage plummeted 3.77 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tanked 1.54 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Emperador, Genting Singapore, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Wilmar International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, improved midday but then stumbled into the close.

The Dow dropped 56.68 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 35,333.47, while the NASDAQ eased 9.83 points or 0.07 percent to close at 14,241.02 and the S&P 500 fell 8.91 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4,550.43.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days.

Traders also were looking for additional clues about the outlook for interest rates, with optimism the Fed is done raising rates contributing to recent strength on Wall Street.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new home sales in U.S. pulled back sharply in October after surging in September.

Crude Oil prices fell on Monday with traders speculating on the likely outcome of Thursday's OPEC meeting to discuss production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January fell $0.68 or 0.9 percent at $74.86 a barrel.