Losing Streak May Continue For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,295-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the health of the financial sectors, although support from technology stocks should limit the downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the property stocks and financial shares.

For the day, the index eased 2.65 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 3,293.91 after trading between 3,281.32 and 3,299.33.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust sank 0.97 percent, CapitaLand Investment advanced 0.78 percent, City Developments slumped 0.68 percent, DBS Group lost 0.64 percent, Emperador declined 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore shed 0.87 percent, Hongkong Land slid 0.46 percent, Keppel Corp collected 0.31 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and UOL Group both added 0.56 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust rallied 2.30 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.16 percent, SATS tumbled 1.52 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering was down 0.28 percent, SingTel climbed 1.22 percent, Thai Beverage improved 0.77 percent, United Overseas Bank fell 0.48 percent, Wilmar International gained 0.49 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.32 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Industrial Trust, SembCorp Industries and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, but the Dow and S&P 500 quickly fell into the red while the NASDAQ stayed positive throughout the day.

The Dow stumbled 228.96 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 33,301.87, while the NASDAQ gained 55.19 points or 0.47 percent to close at 11,854.35 and the S&P 500 fell 15.64 points or 0.38 percent to end at 4,055.99.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders weighed upbeat tech earnings against renewed concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

The rebound by the NASDAQ reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), among others.

On the other hand, shares of First Republic (FRC) extended the steep drop seen in the previous session, which came after the regional bank reported a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, renewing concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged much more than expected in March amid a substantial rebound in orders for transportation equipment.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower Wednesday as worries about the outlook for energy demand dragged down oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $2.77 or 3.6 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release unemployment data for the first quarter of 2023 later today; in the previous three months, the jobless rate was 2.0 percent.