Renewed Consolidation Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 35 points or 1 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,570-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve rate decision this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the property stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and industrials. For the day, the index improved 16.61 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 3,572.04 after trading between 3,566.42 and 3,582.04. Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.49 percent, while CapitaLand Investment climbed 1.06 percent, City Developments added 0.77 percent, DBS Group collected 0.80 percent, Frasers Centrepoint Trust plunged 2.67 percent, Genting Singapore rallied 1.18 percent, Hongkong Land skyrocketed 7.14 percent, Keppel Ltd lost 0.31 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust advanced 0.78 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust jumped 1.25 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust accelerated 1.52 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Venture Corporation both eased 0.07 percent, SATS shed 0.50 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 1.81 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.22 percent, SingTel gained 0.65 percent, Thai Beverage soared 2.00 percent, Wilmar International was up 0.32 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 2.53 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.79 percent and Comfort DelGro, Emperador, Keppel DC REIT and Seatrium Limited were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, hugged the line for much of the day and finished in the red.

The Dow stumbled 257.59 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,794.60, while the NASDAQ shed 59.93 points or 0.33 percent to close at 18,179.98 and the S&P 500 sank 16.11 points or 0.28 percent to end at 5,712.69.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the U.S. elections on Tuesday, as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against former President Donald Trump.

With polls showing an extremely tight race between Harris and Trump, the outcome of the presidential election may not be known on Election Day.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, which is due to be announced on Thursday. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders will be looking to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, buoyed by OPEC's decision to delay plans to increase production, and on rising concerns about tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.98 or about 2.85% at $71.47 a barrel, extending gains to a fourth straight session.

Closer to home, Singapore will see September figures for retail sales later today; In August, sales were up 0.7 percent on month and 0.6 percent on year.