Singapore Stock Market May Give Up Support At 3,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Monday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 50 points or 1.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just shy of the 3,615-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative with profit taking likely for many of the regions. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead. The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the industrials and financials, while the property sector was mixed. For the day, the index sank 25.61 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 3,614.58 after trading between 3,612.02 and 3,640.28. Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slumped 0.94 percent, while CapitaLand Investment shed 0.67 percent, City Developments added 0.76 percent, Comfort DelGro gained 0.69 percent, DBS Group tumbled 1.36 percent, DFI Retail Group urged 2.28 percent, Emperador climbed 1.18 percent, Genting Singapore rose 0.59 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 1.99 percent, Keppel DC REIT jumped 1.33 percent, Keppel Ltd fell 0.31 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.81 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both sank 0.78 percent, Seatrium Limited lost 0.51 percent, SembCorp Industries slid 0.18 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plummeted 2.08 percent, SingTel stumbled 1.23 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.93 percent, UOL Group was up 0.18 percent, Wilmar International rallied 1.22 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, SATS and Yangzijiang Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday and largely stayed that way, although the NASDAQ broke into the green late in the day.

The Dow stumbled 344.25 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 42,931.25, while the NASDAQ gained 50.45 points or 0.27 percent to close at 18,540.01 and the S&P 500 fell 10.69 points or 0.18 percent to end at 5,853.98.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as profit taking brought the Dow down from a record closing high, while tech shares boosted the NASDAQ to a three-month closing high.

Overall trading activity was relatively subdued as traders looked ahead to the release of a slew of corporate earnings news from big-name companies later this week.

In economic news, the Conference Board said its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell by more than expected in the month of September.

Oil prices moved higher on Monday on possible disruptions in supplies due to escalating tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up by $1.34 or 1.94 percent at $70.56 a barrel.