Singapore Stock Market Has Flat Lead For Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,225-point plateau and it's likely to remain rangebound again on Thursday.

The global forecast is mixed to higher as markets are expected to recover from selling pressure earlier this week. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the properties and REITs, while the financials and industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index shed 18.41 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 3,226.86 after trading between 3,215.58 and 3,242.53.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT declined 1.81 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 1.05 percent, CapitaLand Investment tumbled 1.95 percent, City Developments sank 1.07 percent, Comfort DelGro slid 0.83 percent, DBS Group eased 0.38 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 6.67 percent, Emperador fell 1.00 percent, Hongkong Land slumped 1.56 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Thai Beverage both plunged 2.31 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust tanked 2.15 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust skidded 1.21 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation lost 1.03 percent, SATS retreated 1.60 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.06 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dropped 1.15 percent, SingTel advanced 0.84 percent, United Overseas Bank perked 0.07 percent, Wilmar International added 0.51 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding dipped 0.75 percent and Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial and Keppel Corp were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as spent most of Wednesday bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, finally finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow lost 58.06 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,798.40, while the NASDAQ gained 45.67 points or 0.40 percent to close at 11,576.00 and the S&P 500 perked 5.64 points or 0.14 percent to end at 3,992.01.

The choppy trading on Wall Street reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Tuesday's sell-off, which reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest following remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. increased more than expected in February. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. fell to 10.8 million in January from 11.2 million in December.

Crude oil prices slipped on Wednesday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns about outlook for energy demand following Powell's remarks to Congress. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.92 or 1.2 percent at $76.66 a barrel.