Soft Start Seen For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has ended lower in consecutive trading days, shedding more than 50 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just shy of the 3,590-point plateau and it may extend its losses again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to rising treasury yields. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index sank 27.17 points or 0.75 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,587.41 after peaking at 3,615.16.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tanked 1.43 percent, while CapitaLand Investment skidded 0.67 percent, City Developments stumbled 0.94 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.68 percent, DBS Group lost 0.46 percent, DFI Retail spiked 1.34 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.18 percent, Keppel DC REIT rallied 1.32 percent, Keppel Ltd declined 1.09 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.39 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust fell 0.41 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust slumped 0.70 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dropped 0.65 percent, SATS shed 0.53 percent, SembCorp Industries plummeted 2.00 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.21 percent, SingTel sank 0.62 percent, Wilmar International plunged 1.51 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slid 0.39 percent and Hongkong Land, Yangzijiang Financial, Thai Beverage, Seatrium Limited and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly lower on Tuesday and hugged the line throughout the day, with the NASDAQ managing to peek above the line by the close.

The Dow shed 6.71 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 42,924.89, while the NASDAQ rose 33.12 points or 0.18 percent to end at 18,573.13 and the S&P 500 slipped 2.78 points or 0.05 percent to close at 5,851.20.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates after a recent surge by U.S. treasury yields.

After the Fed slashed interest rates by 50 basis points last month, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 89.6 percent chance of just a 25-basis point rate cut next month.

The subsequent recovery by the markets came even though the yield on the benchmark ten-year note crept up to a nearly three-month closing high, as traders are optimistic about the economic outlook.

Oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday amid hopes that China's latest stimulus move will push up demand, although the upside was limited by a possible a ceasefire deal in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for November added $1.53 or 2.1 percent at $72.09 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release consumer price data for September later today. Overall inflation is expected to rise 0.5 percent on month and 1.9 percent on year, easing from 0.7 percent on month and 2.2 percent on year in August. Core CPI is called steady at an annual 2.7 percent.