Singapore Stock Market May Extend Monday's Losses

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Tuesday's holiday for National Day, the Singapore stock market had halted the five-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 70 points or 2.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,270-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growth concerns, with energy and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index slipped 11.90 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 3,270.98 after trading between 3,255.18 and 3,278.35. Volume was 1.05 billion shares worth 941.5 million Singapore dollars. There were 229 decliners and 222 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gained 0.33 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 1.41 percent, CapitaLand Investment and Keppel Corp both rallied 1.01 percent, City Developments spiked 1.23 percent, Comfort DelGro climbed 0.69 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.21 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 1.35 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust advanced 0.52 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.37 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.33 percent, SATS slid 0.25 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 3.58 percent, Singapore Exchange sank 0.51 percent, SingTel fell 0.38 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 0.76 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.04 percent, Wilmar International plummeted 4.88 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.08 percent and Singapore Technologies Engineering, Yangzijiang Financial, Genting Singapore and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow shed 58.13 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,774.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 150.53 points or 1.19 percent to end at 12,493.93 and the S&P 500 fell 17.59 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,122.47.

Technology stocks helped to lead Wall Street lower, with semiconductor stocks turning in some of the worst performances after Micron Technology (MU) warned that it may miss its previous guidance.

The weakness also came as traders looked ahead to the release of a highly anticipated reading on U.S. consumer price inflation later today.

Crude oil futures settled modestly lower Tuesday on concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $90.50 a barrel.