Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market rebounded on Thursday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 25 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,320-point plateau although it may head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on persistent concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index gained 14.72 points or 0.45 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,322.62 after trading as low as 3,297.56.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment slumped 1.12 percent, while City Developments climbed 1.03 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.72 percent, DBS Group gained 0.48 percent, Genting Singapore and Jardine Cycle both added 0.55 percent, Hongkong Land shed 0.58 percent, Keppel DC REIT soared 1.69 percent, Keppel Ltd dropped 0.74 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.60 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust advanced 0.73 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.76 percent, SATS lost 0.39 percent, Seatrium Limited rallied 1.28 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.19 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 1.46 percent, SingTel rose 0.42 percent, Thai Beverage surged 3.00 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding skyrocketed 5.71 percent and Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Frasers Logistics, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Emperador all were unchanged,

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but headed south as the day progressed to end firmly in the red.

The Dow plunged 605.78 points or 1.53 percent to finish at 39,065.26, while the NASDAQ sank 65.51 points or 0.39 percent to close at 16,736.03 and the S&P 500 lost 39.17 points or 0.74 percent to end at 5,267.84.

Initial strength on Wall Street came as tech stocks rallied following upbeat quarterly results from chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as concerns about the outlook for interest rates continue to hang over the broader markets following Wednesday's slightly hawkish Fed minutes.

Potentially adding to the rate concerns, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday for a fourth straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand, and on data showing an unexpected jump in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $76.87 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release April numbers for industrial production later today; in March, production fell 16.0 percent on month and 9.2 percent on year.