Singapore Bourse Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slipping almost 10 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,320-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat with a touch of upside ahead of the FOMC statement on Wednesday. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to inch higher.

The STI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the property stocks and industrials were mitigated by support from the financials.

For the day, the index shed 8.69 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 3,322.08 after trading between 3,315.16 and 3,342.19.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 1.50 percent, CapitaLand Investment tumbled 1.52 percent, City Developments tanked 1.82 percent, DBS Group collected 0.31 percent, Emperador rallied 1.16 percent, Genting Singapore stumbled 1.12 percent, Hongkong Land plummeted 3.22 percent, Keppel DC REIT shed 0.56 percent, Keppel Ltd sank 0.75 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plunged 2.38 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.91 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust declined 1.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation lost 0.28 percent, SATS added 0.34 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 2.35 percent, SembCorp Industries skidded 0.99 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.24 percent, SingTel advanced 0.79 percent, Yangzijiang Financial skyrocketed 7.35 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 2.90 percent and Thai Beverage, Wilmar International and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Monday before gradually climbing up into positive territory.

The Dow gained 69.05 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 38,868.04, while the NASDAQ added 51.90 points or 0.35 percent to close at 17,192.53 and the S&P 500 rose 13/80 points or 0.26 percent to end at 5,360.79.

Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of several key events later this week, including the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.

The Fed is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when the central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

Since the decision is largely seen as a foregone conclusion, traders are likely to pay closer attention to Fed officials' latest projections for the economy and rates.

Ahead of the Fed announcement, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on consumer price inflation in the month of May.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.21 or about 2.9 percent at $77.74 a barrel.