Losing Streak May Continue For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, falling more than 80 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,185-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as investors wait for developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The STI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index dropped 43.15 points or 1.02 percent to finish at the daily low of 4,187.38 after peaking at 4,236.49.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT slid 0.37 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust sank 0.91 percent, CapitaLand Investment skidded 1.11 percent, City Developments stumbled 2.23 percent, Comfort DelGro declined 1.95 percent, DBS Group shed 0.60 percent, DFI Retail Group lost 0.56 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.99 percent, Hongkong Land surrendered 2.26 percent, Keppel Ltd tumbled 2.13 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.50 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation weakened 1.30 percent, SATS was down 0.31 percent, Seatrium Limited fell 0.43 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 2.28 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plummeted 3.78 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 1.06 percent, United Overseas Bank slumped 1.41 percent, UOL Group plunged 2.34 percent, Wilmar International and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both contracted 1.03 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Keppel DC REIT, Yangzijiang Financial and SingTel were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed but moved little, hugging the line all day and ending on opposite sides.

The Dow shed 34.30 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 44,911.82, while the NASDAQ rose 6.80 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,629.77 and the S&P 500 eased 0.65 points or 0.01 percent to end at 6,449.15.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders kept an eye on the White House, where President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders.

The meetings at the White House come after Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday which failed to result in a concrete agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders reported a modest deterioration by U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of August.

Crude oil priced climbed on Monday as investors focused their attention on the meeting between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents amid rising geopolitical tensions surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.60 or 0.96 percent at $63.40 per barrel.