Singapore Shares May See Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the modest two-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 10 points or 0.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,300-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on renewed concerns over the health of the financial systems. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the industrials, trusts and properties, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index sank 27.99 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 3,296.56 after trading between 3,288.59 and 3,325.45.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT retreated 1.40 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.49 percent, CapitaLand Investment added 0.52 percent, City Developments stumbled 1.21 percent, DBS Group rose 0.12 percent, Genting Singapore tanked 1.71 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.68 percent, Keppel Corp and Keppel DC REIT both weakened 0.94 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust lost 0.56 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust slumped 1.14 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation declined 1.56 percent, SATS plunged 1.86 percent, SembCorp Industries tumbled 1.62 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering surrendered 1.64 percent, SingTel plummeted 3.15 percent, United Overseas Bank shed 0.61 percent, Wilmar International skidded 0.97 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.80 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Comfort DelGro and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened slightly lower on Tuesday but accelerated deeper into the red as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plunged 344.57 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 33,530.83, while the NASDAQ tumbled 238.05 points or 1.98 percent to close at 11,799.16 and the S&P 500 sank 65.4 points or 1.58 percent to end at 4,071.63.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected a negative reaction to quarterly results from First Republic (FRC), with the regional bank plunging by 49.4 percent. The steep drop came after the company reported a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, renewing concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

Results for UPS Inc. (UPS) also disappointed, while General Motors (GM), PepsiCo (PEP), McDonald's (MCD) and 3M (MMM) reported better than expected quarterly earnings.

In economic news, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence deteriorated more than expected in April. Also, the Commerce Department said new home sales unexpectedly spiked to their highest level in a year in March.

Oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday amid concerns over the outlook for energy demand due to fears of a global economic slowdown, while the dollar's rise weighed as well. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $1.69 or 2.2 percent to $77.07 per barrel.