Renewed Support Predicted For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one session after halting the three-day slide in which it had dropped more than 45 points or 1.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,100-point plateau although it's expected to rebound again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is inconsistent, with gains from the technology stocks likely to be offset by weakness from the energy producers. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the properties and industrials, while the financials shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 16.13 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 3,104.11 after trading between 3,099.44 and 3,135.05. Volume was 989.6 million shares worth 834 million Singapore dollars. There were 266 decliners and 187 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT stumbled 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 3.27 percent, CapitaLand Investment, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Singapore Exchange all skidded 0.53 percent, City Developments shed 0.50 percent, Comfort DelGro surrendered 1.43 percent, DBS Group added 0.23 percent, Hongkong Land lost 0.39 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.15 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust tanked 1.64 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust weakened 0.77 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust retreated 1.18 percent, SATS sank 0.51 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.35 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slid 0.25 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 1.54 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.22 percent, Wilmar International declined 1.23 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plummeted 3.61 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slumped 1.07 percent and Genting Singapore, SingTel, Venture Corporation and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to higher as the major averages opened with deep losses on Tuesday; they improved throughout the session, although the Dow remained stuck in the red.

The Dow shed 129.44 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 30,967.82, while the NASDAQ surged 194.39 points or 1.75 percent to end at 11,322.24 and the S&P 500 rose 6.06 points or 0.16 percent to end at 3,831.39.

Growth fears outweighed news that U.S. President Joe Biden may announce a rollback of some U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.

Investors also looked ahead to the release of the minutes of the central bank's latest policy meeting and the non-farm payrolls data, due out later in the week.

In economic news, the Labor Department said factory orders increased more than expected in May.

Crude oil prices plunged sharply Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand following a surge in Covid cases in China, while fears about Fed tightening, a strong greenback and a possible global slowdown also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August plummeted $8.93 or 8.2 percent at $99.50 a barrel.