To The Moon

The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,220-point plateau and it's likely to take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asianmarketsis broadly negative on inflation and interest rate concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down on Wednesday and now the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the trusts and properties, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index sank 17.66 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 3,221.67 after trading between 3,212.18 and 3,233.61. Volume was 2.06 billion shares worth 1.89 billion Singapore dollars. There were 269 decliners and 251 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT tanked 2.08 percent, while CapitaLand Investment declined 1.86 percent, City Developments shed 0.49 percent, DBS Group skidded 0.85 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 1.90 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.82 percent, Keppel Corp climbed 1.11 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust weakened 1.08 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust plunged 2.32 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust plummeted 2.34 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.08 percent, SATS rose 0.25 percent, SembCorp Industries stumbled 1.17 percent, Singapore Exchange added 0.42 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 1.58 percent, SingTel surrendered 1.87 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.78 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.04 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.74 percent, Yangzijiang Financial slumped 1.32 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off a positive open on Wednesday, hugging the line for much of the day before a late slide pushed them firmly into the red for the fourth straight session.

The Dow tumbled 280.44 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 31,510.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 66.93 points or 0.56 percent to close at 11,816.20 and the S&P 500 sank 31.16 points or 0.78 percent to end at 3,955.00.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about higher interest rates following some hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Exacerbating those concerns, Eurozone inflation hit a new record in August and added further pressure on the European Central Bank to tighten policy more aggressively as soon as next week.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said that private sector employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in August.

Crude oil prices saw further downside on Wednesday, extending recent losses on concerns about the outlook for the globaleconomyafter the Eurozone's record high inflation report. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery tumbled $2.09 or 2.3 percent to $89.55 a barrel.