Continued Consolidation Called For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had risen almost 60 points or 1.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,930-point plateau and it's predicted to open to the downside again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing U.S. tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are also expected to open under pressure. The STI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and industrial issues, while the property stocks were mixed. For the day, the index eased 2.19 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 3,927.75 after trading between 3,923.28 and 3,951.64. Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment jumped 2.45 percent, City Developments rallied 2.59 percent, DBS Group dropped 0.58 percent, Hongkong Land dipped 0.22 percent, Keppel DC REIT added 0.47 percent, Keppel Ltd sank 0.29 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 1.72 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust strengthened 2.00 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Jardine Cycle both advanced 0.83 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.23 percent, SATS plunged 3.33 percent, Seatrium Limited tanked 2.10 percent, SembCorp Industries accelerated 2.61 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.20 percent, Thai Beverage spiked 3.00 percent, UOL Group surged 5.89 percent, Wilmar International soared 3.25 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 7.14 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Yangzijiang Financial, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, Genting Singapore, SingTel, Emperador and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded quickly and finished mixed.

The Dow added 33.19 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 43,461.21, while the NASDAQ tumbled 237.08 points or 1.21 percent to close at 19,286.93 and the S&P 500 sank 29.88 points or 0.50 percent to end at 5,983.25.

The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 ended the day firmly in the red after President Donald Trump said previously delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are "going forward on time." The volatility on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the release of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA). The AI darling and market leader is scheduled to release its fourth quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday as fresh sanctions by the United States on Iran raised the possibility of a drop in global supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled higher by $0.30 at $70.70 a barrel.