Singapore Bourse May Give Up Support At 3,100 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has closed lower in consecutive trading days, dropping almost 40 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,100-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for continued consolidation, with energy, steel and financial stocks likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow suit.

The STI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index retreated 32.66 points or 1.04 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,102.21 after peaking at 3,138.21. Volume was 1.13 billion shares worth 1.1 billion Singapore dollars. There were 290 decliners and 204 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT dipped 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 2.25 percent, CapitaLand Investment stumbled 1.29 percent, City Developments slipped 0.49 percent, Comfort DelGro gained 0.72 percent, DBS Group lost 1.07 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.37 percent, Hongkong Land cratered 2.14 percent, Keppel Corp was down 0.46 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust tanked 1.61 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust slid 0.76 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 1.18 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation shed 1.13 percent, SATS eased 0.26 percent, SembCorp Industries declined 1.38 percent, Singapore Exchange fell 0.84 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering climbed 0.99 percent, SingTel sank 1.17 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 1.53 percent, United Overseas Bank slumped 1.35 percent, Wilmar International skidded 1.22 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plummeted 2.38 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday, made back some ground as the day progressed but still ended well in the red.

The Dow dropped 253.88 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 30,775.43, while the NASDAQ tumbled 149.16 points or 1.33 percent to end at 11,028.74 and the S&P 500 sank 33.45 points or 0.88 percent to close at 3,785.38.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the global economic outlook and the possibility of a recession. Central bank chiefs have reaffirmed their resolve to pare inflation despite threats to economic growth.

A Commerce Department report provided further evidence of an economic slowdown, showing that personal spending increased less than expected in May.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower Thursday, extending the pullback seen in the previous session on lingering concerns about the outlook for demand amid the possibility of a recession. West Texas Intermediate for August delivery plunged $4.02 or 3.7 percent to $105.76 a barrel.