Singapore Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 45 points or 1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,425-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is bleak on concerns of an escalation in the trade war between U.S. and China. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the industrial issues and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index shed 13.44 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 4,427.06 after trading between 4,421.89 and 4,442.56.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT lost 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slumped 0.85 percent, CapitaLand Investment shed 0.37 percent, City Developments sank 0.42 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.67 percent, DBS Group and Keppel Ltd both eased 0.11 percent, DFI Retail Group stumbled 1.76 percent, Hongkong Land added 0.47 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust skidded 0.79 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.12 percent, SATS tanked 1.96 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 6.56 percent, SembCorp Industries declined 0.93 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plunged 3.61 percent, SingTel perked 0.24 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 2.08 percent, UOL Group gained 0.38 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.34 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.69 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding retreated 1.16 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Genting Singapore, Keppel DC REIT and United Overseas Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened roughly flat on Friday put plummeted in the late morning and finished deep in the red at session lows.

The Dow plunged 878.82 points or 1.90 percent to finish at 45,479.60, while the NASDAQ crashed 820.20 points or 3.56 percent to close at 22,204.43 and the S&P 500 stumbled 182.60 points or 2.71 percent to end at 6,552.51.

For the week, the Dow dove 2.7 percent, the NASDAQ slumped 2.5 percent and the S&P sank 2.4 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump threatened to retaliate against China's expansion of export controls on rare earths. Trump accused China of "becoming very hostile" in a post on social media platform Truth Social and threatened a "massive increase" in tariffs on Chinese products coming into the U.S.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the University of Michigan said its reading on U.S. consumer sentiment was unchanged in October, while year-ahead inflation expectations ebbed to 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent in September.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday after Trump threatened to massively increases tariffs on China in retaliation for its expansion of export controls on rare earths. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $2.69 or 4.37 percent at $58.82 per barrel.