Singapore Bourse May Halt Its Slide On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 20 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,585-point plateau and it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive following a sharp drop in the price of oil. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly lower again on Monday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 9.33 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 3,584.08 after trading between 3,583.89 and 3,599.70.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust jumped 1.48 percent, while CapitaLand Investment dropped 0.70 percent, City Developments shed 0.58 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.69 percent, DBS Group eased 0.18 percent, Emperador tumbled 1.18 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.21 percent, Hongkong Land added 0.51 percent, Keppel DC REIT declined 0.85 percent, Keppel Ltd lost 0.46 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.75 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rallied 1.25 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust skidded 0.73 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.33 percent, SATS tanked 1.50 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 2.06 percent, SembCorp Industries stumbled 1.14 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 1.06 percent, SingTel slid 0.31 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.62 percent, Yangzijiang Financial strengthened 1.23 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plunged 1.56 percent and Thai Beverage, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened modestly higher on Monday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow rallied 273.17 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 42,387.57, while the NASDAQ gained 48.58 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 18,567.19 and the S&P 500 added 15.40 points or 0.27 percent to end at 5,823.52.

The strength on Wall Street came amid a steep drop by the price of oil. Oil prices fell sharply on Monday as concerns about supply disruptions faded after Israel avoided hitting Iranian oil facilities over the weekend. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December plunged $4.40 or 6.1 percent at $67.38 a barrel.

Meanwhile, traders were also looking ahead to the release of key U.S. economic data later in the week. The monthly jobs report as well as a report on personal income and spending that includes the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation readings are likely to be in the spotlight.

The data could impact the outlook for the economy as well as expectations regarding how quickly the Fed will lower interest rates.