Win Streak May End For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, improving more than 100 points or 2 percent along the way. Now at a fresh record closing high, the Straits Times Index sits just above the 5,040-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative due to uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariff policies. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit. The STI finished modestly higher again on Monday following gains from the property stocks and industrial companies, while the financial sector was mixed. For the day, the index improved 23.73 points or 0.47 percent to finish at the daily high of 5,041.33 after trading as low as 5,014.36. Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust jumped 1.65 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rose 0.32 percent, City Developments advanced 0.72 percent, DBS Group perked 0.28 percent, DFI Retail Group dropped 0.95 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 2.47 percent, Hongkong Land spiked 2.35 percent, Keppel DC REIT and Frasers Centrepoint Trust both added 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd climbed 0.77 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 0.69 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.14 percent, SATS expanded 0.78 percent, Seatrium Limited rallied 2.31 percent, SembCorp Industries increased 0.47 percent, Singapore Airlines vaulted 0.87 percent, Singapore Exchange gained 0.39 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering soared 2.55 percent, SingTel sank 0.40 percent, Thai Beverage skidded 1.04 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.62 percent, UOL Group shed 0.27 percent, Wilmar International slumped 1.40 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 3.49 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened lower and remained in the red throughout the session, ending near daily lows.

The Dow plummeted 821.91 points or 1.66 percent to finish at 48,804.06, while the NASDAQ tumbled 258.79 points or 1.13 percent to close at 22,627.27 and the S&P 500 dropped 71.76 points or 1.04 percent to end at 6,837.75.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid renewed trade uncertainty following the Supreme Court's decision last Friday striking down most of President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs.

Meanwhile, the European Commission issued a statement requesting "full clarity" on the steps the U.S. intends to take following the Supreme Court decision.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a nosedive by shares of IBM Corp. (IBM) after Anthropic's Claude announced COBOL capabilities. COBOL is a programming language used widely in business data processing, which is a core business for IBM.

Crude oil prices sputtered on Monday as demand concerns reappeared following the uncertainty generated by the tariff issues. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery slipped $0.10 or 0.15 percent to $66.38 per barrel.