Singapore Stock Market May Find Mild Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than 20 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,310-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key economic data later in the day. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials and properties and a mixed picture from the industrial sector.

For the day, the index sank 12.87 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 3,309.21 after trading between 3,303.24 and 3,332.60.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT dipped 0.39 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tanked 2.03 percent, CapitaLand Investment sank 0.77 percent, City Developments slid 0.56 percent, Comfort DelGro shed 0.73 percent, DBS Group eased 0.22 percent, Hongkong Land and SembCorp Industries both fell 0.60 percent, Keppel DC REIT gained 0.56 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.76 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.81 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust skidded 0.92 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was down 0.28 percent, SATS slumped 1.01 percent, Seatrium Limited skyrocketed 1,900.00 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering declined 1.23 percent, SingTel advanced 0.79 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.65 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.37 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.61 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Emperador, Genting Singapore and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday but trended to the upside as the day progressed and ended mixed.

The Dow slumped 120.62 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 38,747.42, while the NASDAQ rallied 151.02 points or 0.88 percent to close at a record 17,343.55 and the S&P 500 added 14.53 points or 0.27 percent to end at 5,375.32 - also a record.

The advance by the tech-heavy NASDAQ was partly due to a surge by shares of Apple (AAPL), with the tech giant surging 7.3 percent to a record after unveiling new AI features that may drive users to upgrade their devices.

But traders are looking ahead to two potentially major market moving economic events later today - the Labor Department's inflation report for May, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for the economy and interest rates.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Tuesday as caution reigned ahead of inventory data and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.16 at $77.90 a barrel.