Soft Start Seen For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 40 points or 1.2 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,240-point plateau and it may continue to spin its wheels again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision and statement later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index lost 22.64 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 3,240.75 after trading between 3,235.96 and 3,266.47.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT sank 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 0.52 percent, CapitaLand Investment and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation both dropped 0.94 percent, City Developments retreated 1.33 percent, DBS Group declined 1.17 percent, Emperador skidded 0.96 percent, Genting Singapore jumped 1.15 percent, Hongkong Land lost 0.57 percent, Keppel Corp tumbled 1.59 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.66 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust slid 0.43 percent, SATS eased 0.39 percent, Seatrium Limited surrendered 1.45 percent, SembCorp Industries added 0.19 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slumped 1.03 percent, SingTel rallied 2.49 percent, Wilmar International tanked 1.86 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 2.94 percent, and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Yangzijiang Financial, Thai Beverage, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat, tumbled early and then saw a late recovery to finish with only modest losses.

The Dow shed 106.57 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 34,517.73, while the NASDAQ lost 32.05 points or 0.23 percent to close at 13,678.19 and the S&P 500 fell 9.58 points or 0.22 percent to end at 4,443.95.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders remained on edge ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement and the central bank's projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated by a Commerce Department report showing a sharp pullback in U.S. housing starts in August. Also, the Commerce Department said building permits surged more than expected in August.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday after posting gains in the three previous sessions to touch a 10-month high. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.28 or 0.3 percent at $91.20 a barrel.