Singapore Stock Market Likely To Give Up Support At 3,100 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dipped almost 10 points or 0.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,110-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, largely due to expectations of profit taking following recent gains. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks, REITs and industrials.

For the day, the index slipped 8.59 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 3,108.03 after trading between 3,106.66 and 3,129.52.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT and CapitaLand Investment both lost 0.34 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slumped 1.01 percent, City Developments fell 0.31 percent, Comfort DelGro skidded 0.72 percent, DBS Group sank 0.41 percent, Genting Singapore tanked 1.53 percent, Hongkong Land perked 0.30 percent, Keppel Corp and SembCorp Industries both rose 0.59 percent, Keppel DC REIT climbed 1.09 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.67 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust advanced 0.83 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust gained 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slid 0.24 percent, SATS tumbled 1.11 percent, Seatrium Limited jumped 1.85 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.81 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.61 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 3.45 percent and Emperador, SingTel, Thai Beverage, Wilmar International and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages hugged the line for most of Wednesday's session but turned sharply lower heading into the close.

The Dow plunged 475.92 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 37,082.00, while the NASDAQ tumbled 225.28 points or 1.50 percent to close at 14,777.94 and the S&P 500 slumped 70.02 points or 1.47 percent to end at 4,698.36.

The late-day sell-off on Wall Street was largely attributed to profit taking, with traders cashing in on the strong upward move seen in recent sessions.

A steep drop by shares of FedEx (FDX) also weighed on the markets, with the delivery giant plunging by 12.1 percent after the company reported weaker than expected fiscal Q2 results and lowered its full-year revenue guidance.

In economic news, the Conference Board noted a much bigger than expected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in December, while the National Association of Realtors showed an unexpected rebound in U.S. existing home sales last month.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday on concerns about trade disruptions in the Middle East after attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $74.22 a barrel.