The Singapore stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, retreating almost 45 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,300-point plateau although it may give up that support on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat to lower ahead of the start of earnings season. The European markets were up and the U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index sank 32.78 points or 0.98 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,303.07 after peaking at 3,330.30. Volume was 1.1 billion shares worth 864.8 million Singapore dollars. There were 209 decliners and 151 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT eased 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dipped 0.44 percent, City Developments skidded 1.08 percent, Comfort DelGro lost 0.66 percent, DBS Group tanked 1.43 percent, Genting Singapore surrendered 1.25 percent, Hongkong Land plummeted 1.65 percent, Keppel Corp dropped 0.76 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust weakened 1.06 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slid 0.58 percent, SATS rose 0.23 percent, SembCorp Industries gained 0.70 percent, Singapore Airlines retreated 1.10 percent, Singapore Exchange tumbled 1.30 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.98 percent, SingTel declined 1.15 percent, Thai Beverage shed 0.71 percent, United Overseas Bank plunged 1.56 percent, Wilmar International stumbled 1.09 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell 0.61 percent and Dairy Farm International, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street ends up slightly soft as the major averages spent most of Monday bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally finishing barely in the red.
The Dow shed 39.54 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 34.411.69, while the NASDAQ dipped 18.72 points or 0.14 percent to close at 13,332.36 and the S&P 500 fell 0.90 points or 0.02 percent to end at 4,391.69.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of a slew of earnings news this week.
In economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported continued deterioration in U.S. homebuilder confidence in April.
Crude oil futures settled at a three-week high on Monday as prices rebounded amid concerns about tight supply due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and news about the shutdown of Libya's biggest oil field. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.26 or 1.2 percent at $108.21 a barrel.
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