To The Moon

The Singapore stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after ending the five-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 150 points or 4.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,110-point plateau although it figures to rebound again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, supported by bargain hunting, rising oil prices and falling treasury yields. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the plantations, financials and industrials, while the properties were mixed.

For the day, the index sank 23.15 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 3,107.09 after trading between 3,102.90 and 3,126.98. Volume was 1.1 billion shares worth 1.09 billion Singapore dollars. There were 337 decliners and 175 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT slumped 1.86 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dropped 1.04 percent, CapitaLand Investment tumbled 2.59 percent, City Developments and SATS both fell 0.66 percent, Comfort DelGro surrendered 2.27 percent, DBS Group lost 0.72 percent, Emperador retreated 2.04 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.58 percent, Keppel Corp skidded 1.29 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dipped 0.58 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust weakened 1.68 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust stumbled 1.92 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slid 0.59 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plunged 2.79 percent, SingTel declined 2.26 percent, Thai Beverage shed 0.83 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.34 percent, Wilmar International plummeted 3.39 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tanked 2.67 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.97 percent and Genting Singapore and SembCorp Industries were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and accelerated as the session progressed, ending near daily highs.

The Dow surged 765.38 points or 2.66 percent to finish at 29,490.89, while the NASDAQ soared 239.82 points or 2.27 percent to end at 10,815.43 and the S&P 500 jumped 92.81 points or 2.59 percent to close at 3,678.43.

The rally on Wall Street was largely due to hectic bargain hunting after recent sharp losses. Data showing that U.S. manufacturing activity slowed to its weakest pace in 30 months also helped ease concerns about aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve.

Also boosting stocks, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell after British Prime Minister Liz Truss was forced to reverse course on a tax cut for the highest rate.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid speculation that OPEC will discuss cutting crude output at their upcoming meeting on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $4.14 or 5.2 percent at $83.63 a barrel.