Singapore Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 45 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,145-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on renewed fears for the economy in the face of a Caovid-19 resurgence. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials were limited by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index improved 14.51 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 3,145.77 after trading between 3,129.90 and 3,147.73. Volume was 994.5 million shares worth 893.2 million Singapore dollars. There were 281 decliners and 210 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT tumbled 1.03 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.48 percent, CapitaLand Investment sank 0.52 percent, City Developments plummeted 3.30 percent, Comfort DelGro spiked 1.43 percent, DBS Group surged 2.33 percent, Genting Singapore slumped 0.52 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 1.20 percent, Keppel Corp slid 0.31 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust advanced 0.56 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust fell 0.38 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust plunged 2.84 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.35 percent, SATS jumped 1.26 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.04 percent, Singapore Exchange added 0.42 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.24 percent, SingTel retreated 0.75 percent, United Overseas Bank soared 1.44 percent, Wilmar International declined 0.97 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.20 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Thai Beverage and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday, but a late slide pushed them into the red at the close.

The Dow dropped 192.51 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 30,981.51, while the NASDAQ sank 107.87 points or 0.95 percent to end at 11,264.73 and the S&P 500 lost 35.63 points or 0.92 percent to close at 3,818.80.

The late-day weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation for June.

Concerns about the emergence of a new, more infectious Covid-19 strain in several parts of the world also continued to weigh.

Investors also seemed to be moving money out of stocks ahead of what some expect to be a difficult quarterly earnings season.

The price of crude oil plummeted on Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for global demand due to recession fears and a renewed spike in Covid-19 cases. West Texas Intermediate for August delivery shed $8.25 or 7.9 percent to $95.84 a barrel, closing below $100 a barrel for the first time in two months.