Soft Start Predicted For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, retreating more than 210 points or 6.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,240-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is bleak on continuing concerns about the health of the U.S. economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower on Monday and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion again - although this selloff is quite overdone and may fade as the day progresses.

The STI finished sharply lower across the board on Monday, spooked by concerns over the health of the U.S. economy.

For the day, the index stumbled 137.78 points or 4.07 percent to finish at 3,243.67 after trading between 3,211.78 and 3,315.95.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dropped 2.82 percent, while CapitaLand Investment surrendered 4.46 percent, City Developments and Comfort DelGro both skidded 2.84 percent, DBS Group plunged 5.78 percent, Genting Singapore stumbled 4.17 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 1.56 percent, Keppel DC REIT was down 0.98 percent, Keppel Ltd declined 3.38 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 2.31 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 2.19 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust weakened 3.01 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation tanked 5.27 percent, SATS plummeted 6.48 percent, Seatrium Limited dipped 1.34 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 2.38 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 4.09 percent, SingTel slid 1.36 percent, Thai Beverage fell 2.00 percent, Wilmar International slumped 3.13 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 4.41 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding crashed 8.00 percent and Emperador was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red on Monday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 1,033 .99 points or 2.60 percent to finish at 38,703.27, while the NASDAQ tanked 576.08 points or 3.43 percent to close at 16,200.08 and the S&P 500 plunged 160.23 points or 3.00 percent to end at 5,186.33.

The continued weakness on Wall Street came on concerns that the U.S. economy may slip into recession following last Friday's disappointing jobs report.

Stocks regained some ground following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing service sector activity in the U.S. turned positive in the month of July.

Oil futures lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for demand amid fears the U.S. economy could slip into a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September sank $0.58 or 0.7 percent at $72.94 a barrel.