The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two sessions, slipping more than 45 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,200-point plateau and it's likely to extend its losses on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative, with oil and technology stocks expected to lead the way lower. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index shed 18.61 points or 0.58 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,195.04 after peaking at 3,224.74. Volume was 1.63 billion shares worth 1.39 billion Singapore dollars. There were 280 decliners and 192 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT skidded 0.73 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slid 0.45 percent, CapitaLand Investment fell 0.52 percent, Comfort DelGro tumbled 1.36 percent, DBS Group sank 0.65 percent, Genting Singapore surrendered 1.27 percent, Hongkong Land dipped 0.42 percent, Keppel Corp lost 0.59 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust plummeted 2.21 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust was down 0.41 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust shed 0.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation stumbled 1.02 percent, SembCorp Industries retreated 1.06 percent, Singapore Exchange declined 1.21 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering tanked 1.98 percent, SingTel slumped 0.75 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 0.71 percent, Wilmar International plunged 2.15 percent, Yangzijiang Financial skyrocketed 9.20 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.56 percent and City Developments, United Overseas Bank, SATS and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened in the red on Tuesday and spent most of the day there, although the Dow crept above the unchanged line at the end.
The Dow added 48.38 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 31,928.62, while the NASDAQ plummeted 270.83 points or 2.35 percent to close at 11,264.45 and the S&P 500 sank 32.27 points or 0.81 percent to end at 3,941.48.
A steep drop by shares of Snap Inc. (SNAP) weighed on the tech sector after the company warned of weaker than expected second quarter results.
The pullback also reflected lingering concerns that aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve could lead to a recession; the Fed is due to release the minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting later today, which may shed additional light on the outlook for rates.
Adding to the negative sentiment, the Commerce Department reported a much steeper than expected drop in new home sales in April.
Crude oil futures slipped on Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to China's increased Covid-19 curbs. Markets are also worried that aggressive monetary policy tightening by central banks to control inflation could tip the global economy into a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July fell $0.52 or 0.5 percent at $109.77 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will release final Q1 figures for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.8 percent on quarter and 3.7 percent on year - slowing from 2.3 percent on quarter and 6.1 percent on year in the previous three months. Singapore also will see Q1 data for current account; in the previous three months, the surplus was SGD25.72 billion.
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