Singapore Shares Tipped To Open In The Red On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 50 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,880-point plateau and it's likely to see continued selling pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to U.S. involvement in the Israel/Iran conflict. The European and U.S. markets were mixed but the Asian markets figure to open under water.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the financial shares and property stocks were mitigated by support from the industrials.

For the day, the index sank 10.75 points or 0.28 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,883.43 after trading as high as 3,903.72.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment stumbled 1.93 percent, while City Developments surrendered 1.38 percent, Comfort DelGro improved 0.70 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.11 percent, DFI Retail skidded 0.75 percent, Emperador rallied 1.43 percent, Genting Singapore and Venture Corporation both dropped 0.71 percent, Hongkong Land tumbled 1.79 percent, Keppel Ltd jumped 1.37 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.81 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.51 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.56 percent, SATS was down 1.32 percent, Seatrium Limited climbed 0.98 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 1.60 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.51 percent, SingTel retreated 1.28 percent, Thai Beverage declined 1.11 percent, Wilmar International gained 0.34 percent, Yangzijiang Financial advanced 0.72 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Keppel DC REIT and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains murky as the major averages opened higher on but quickly fell under water, finally finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 35.16 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 42,206.82, while the NASDAQ dropped 98.86 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,447.41 and the S&P 500 sank 13.03 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,967.84.

The positive boost to kick off trade on Wall Street came after the White House said President Donald Trump sees a "substantial chance of negotiations" and would decide within two weeks whether to authorize a direct U.S. military strike on Iran.

Of course, on Saturday the United States bombed three sites in Iran that are suspected nuclear development areas. The fallout from those attacks remains uncertain.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said on Friday that regional manufacturing activity remained weak in June. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity was unchanged in June after jumping to a negative 4.0 in May, with a negative reading indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to rise to a negative 1.0.

Crude oil price slipped on Friday as concerns of U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict faded, even as the fighting between the two nations intensified. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery closed down by $0.21 to $74.93 per barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release May figures for consumer prices later this morning. In April, overall inflation was down 0.3 percent on month and up 0.9 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 0.7 percent. Singapore also will see Q1 data for unemployment, with forecasts suggesting the jobless rate will come in at 2.1 percent - up from 1.9 percent in the previous three months.