Singapore Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slipping almost 20 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,120-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of key data later this week that could affect the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the industrials and properties, while the financial shares were mixed.

For the day, the index shed 13.55 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 3,122.21 after trading between 3,119.70 and 3,147.40.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment slumped 0.74 percent, while City Developments tumbled 1.40 percent, DBS Group and SembCorp Industries both lost 0.39 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.10 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.78 percent, Keppel DC REIT dropped 0.59 percent, Keppel Ltd declined 0.70 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tanked 1.52 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.44 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rose 0.08 percent, SATS slid 0.38 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 3.16 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering shed 0.50 percent, SingTel fell 0.43 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.90 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.56 percent and Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Emperador, Thai Beverage and Yangzijiang Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied in the afternoon but sank back into the red by the close.

The Dow dropped 97.55 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,989.83, while the NASDAQ sank 67.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 16,207.51 and the S&P 500 eased 6.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 5,130.95.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of caution on the part of investors, with several significant data points on tap for the coming days.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony will be in focus for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Then on Friday is the Labor Department's highly anticipated employment report for February, which also could affect the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures ended lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand after OPEC extended its output cuts to the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide January figures for retail sales later today; in December, sales were down 1.5 percent on month and 0.4 percent on year.