Singapore Stock Market May Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had improved more than 75 points or 1.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 4,580-point plateau and it may remain stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity, although any lack of general support should be limited by support from the technology shares. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index shed 9.44 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 4,579.73 after trading between 4,571.83 and 4,603.33.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and DBS Group both rose 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.43 percent, CapitaLand Investment slipped 0.38 percent, City Developments jumped 1.90 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.69 percent, Genting Singapore slumped 0.69 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 2.12 percent, Keppel DC REIT stumbled 1.79 percent, Keppel Ltd fell 0.40 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.78 percent, SATS rallied 1.39 percent, Seatrium Limited plunged 2.35 percent, SembCorp Industries tumbled 1.50 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.48 percent, SingTel plummeted 2.36 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.03 percent, UOL Group perked 0.12 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.65 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.57 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, DFI Retail Group, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages hugged the line from below for most of the day, although the NASDAQ managed to break into the green.

The Dow slumped 302.30 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 48,114.26, while the NASDAQ added 54.05 points or 0.23 percent to close at 23,111.46 and the S&P 500 slipped 16.25 points or 0.24 percent to end at 6,800.26.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's report on employment in November.

Most economists said the data has increased the likelihood the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the near future, but the report also raised concerns about the strength of the economy.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed retail sales in the U.S. were roughly flat in October.

Crude oil prices extended recent losses Tuesday on lingering oversupply concerns, especially if an end to hostilities between Russia and Ukraine could exacerbate the supply glut. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $1.57 or 2.8 percent to $55.25 per barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide November data for non-oil domestic exports later this morning; in October, NODX was up 9.3 percent on month and 22.2 percent on year for a trade surplus of SGD7.249 billion.