Soft Start Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,225-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation on growth concerns. The European and U.S markets were down and the Asian markets are predicted to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the properties, financial shares and REITs were mitigated by support from the industrials.

For the day, the index slipped 12.14 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 3,226.83 after trading between 3,214.63 and 3,233.84.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT fell 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 1.04 percent, CapitaLand Investment slid 0.32 percent, City Developments and Mapletree Logistics Trust both sank 0.59 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.78 percent, DBS Group eased 0.27 percent, Keppel Corp declined 1.01 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust added 0.66 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.43 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation skidded 0.79 percent, SATS tumbled 1.15 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 1.37 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 0.97 percent, SingTel lost 0.42 percent, Wilmar International slumped 0.81 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.41 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.84 percent and Genting Singapore, Emperador, Hongkong Land, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Thai Beverage, Frasers Logistics and DFI Retail Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow dropped 195.74 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 34,641.97, while the NASDAQ dipped 10.86 points or 0.08 percent to close at 14,020.95 and the S&P 500 fell 18.94 points or 0.42 percent to end at 4,496.83.

Concerns about the outlook for global economy following the release of disappointing Chinese and European data weighed on the market. A firm dollar and higher Treasury yields hurt as well.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a significant pullback in factory orders in July.

Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia and Russia announced they will extend their voluntary production cuts by three months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.14 or about 1.3 percent at $86.69 a barrel.