Singapore Bourse May Give Up Support At 4,500 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in three straight sessions, slipping almost 50 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,500-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were soft and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues. For the day, the index shed 24.28 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 4,507.08 after trading between 4,502.88 and 4,534.44. Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT slumped 0.72 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 1.72 percent, City Developments declined 0.96 percent, Comfort DelGro surrendered 1.39 percent, DBS Group fell 0.35 percent, DFI Retail Group plummeted 2.20 percent, Hongkong Land and SembCorp Industries both tanked 1.50 percent, Keppel DC REIT and SingTel both lost 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd stumbled 1.27 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and UOL Group both skidded 0.70 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation retreated 1.00 percent, SATS dropped 0.58 percent, Seatrium Limited shed 0.47 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.24 percent, United Overseas Bank slipped 0.23 percent, Venture Corporation climbed 1.14 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.17 percent and Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, Genting Singapore, Thai Beverage, CapitaLand Investment, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the session well under water.

The Dow dropped 215.67 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 47,739.32, while the NASDAQ sank 32.22 points or 0.14 percent to close at 23,545.90 and the S&P 500 fell 23.89 points or 0.35 percent to end at 6,846.51.

The modest pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which saw the NASDAQ and S&P 500 reach their best closing levels in a month last Friday.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts next year.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, which has largely been priced in. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $1.28 or 2.13 percent at $58.80 per barrel.