Singapore Bourse May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,250-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index shed 15.17 points or 0.46 percent to end at 3,252.37 after trading between 3,244.73 and 3,265.28. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 1.2 billion Singapore dollars. There were 271 decliners and 244 gainers.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.49 percent, while CapitaLand Investment tumbled 1.08 percent, City Developments fell 0.48 percent, Comfort DelGro skidded 0.79 percent, DBS Group and Yangzijiang Financial both tanked 1.45 percent, Emperador declined 1.02 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 0.56 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 0.96 percent, Keppel Corp plummeted 2.24 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust spiked 1.19 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust retreated 0.89 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust jumped 0.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.16 percent, SATS surged 3.52 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering stumbled 0.88 percent, SingTel plunged 1.48 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.76 percent, United Overseas Bank lost 0.65 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.73 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding shed 0.71 percent and Ascendas REIT and SembCorp Industries were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains negative as the major averages opened lower and continued deeper into the red as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow retreated 350.76 points or 1.03 percent to finish at 33,596.76, while the NASDAQ tumbled 225.05 points or 2.00 percent to close at 11,014.89 and the S&P 500 dropped 57.58 points or 1.44 percent to end at 3,941.26.

The extended sell-off on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next week, recent upbeat economic data has raised concerns about how much further the central bank will raise rates at future meetings.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of October.

Crude oil prices dropped to an 11-month low on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand as uncertainty and consequences of a continued Fed tightening weighed on the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $2.68 or 3.5 percent at $74.25 a barrel.