Soft Start Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 40 points or 0.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just shy of the 3,800-point plateau although the losses may accelerate on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's interest rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion, although bargain hunting may take hold later in the day.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the properties and industrials were mitigated by support from the trusts.

For the day, the index shed 21.10 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 3,799.93 after trading between 3,796.07 and 3,818.60.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment and UOL Group both dropped 0.76 percent, while City Developments slumped 0.77 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.23 percent, DFI Retail Group surrendered 1.71 percent, Emperador rallied 1.20 percent, Frasers Centrepoint Trust advanced 0.95 percent, Genting Singapore shed 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.00 percent, Keppel DC REIT rose 0.47 percent, Keppel Ltd tumbled 1.16 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust improved 0.45 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.79 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.29 percent, SATS skidded 0.83 percent, Seatrium Limited retreated 1.00 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 1.64 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering was up 0.22 percent, SingTel lost 0.63 percent, Thai Beverage declined 0.88 percent, Venture Corporation sank 0.68 percent, Wilmar International gained 0.66 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.27 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 2.08 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust and Jardine Cycle & Carriage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 267.58 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 43,449.90, while the NASDAQ sank 64.83 points or 0.32 percent to close at 20,109.06 and the S&P 500 lost 23.47 points or 0.39 percent to end at 6,050.61.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected a pullback by technology stocks, which had led the way higher in the previous session - particularly among the networking and semiconductor stocks. Telecom, financial, housing and steel stocks also moved to the downside.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter-point, traders will pay close attention to the Fed's statement and latest economic projections, including their forecasts for rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for global demand, and possible excess supply in the market next year. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January ended down $0.63 or 0.9 percent at $70.08 a barrel.