Steady Start Called For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's Labor Day holiday, the Singapore stock market had finished lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 50 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,270-point plateau although it may find traction on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC's rate decision on Wednesday. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index shed 11.52 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 3,270.51 after trading between 3,266.11 and 3,284.94.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT jumped 1.78 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust increased 0.50 percent, CapitaLand Investment skidded 1.06 percent, City Developments added 0.58 percent, DBS Group collected 0.18 percent, Emperador advanced 1.00 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.88 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 1.14 percent, Keppel Corp improved 0.65 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Jardine Matheson both shed 0.56 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust slumped 1.14 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was up 0.08 percent, SATS tumbled 1.55 percent, SembCorp Industries perked 0.23 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.56 percent, SingTel rose 0.39 percent, Thai Beverage declined 1.54 percent, United Overseas Bank lost 0.49 percent, Wilmar International dropped 1.01 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.28 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Frasers Logistics and DFI Retail Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative after the major averages spent most of Monday in positive territory before a late slide saw them finish slightly in the red.

The Dow shed 46.46 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 34,051.70, while the NASDAQ lost 13.99 points or 0.11 percent to close at 12,212.60 and the S&P 500 eased 1.61 points or 0.04 percent to end at 4,167.87.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said manufacturing activity contracted for the sixth straight month in April. Also, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected increase in U.S construction spending in March.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Monday, weighed down by concerns about economic growth and worries about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $1.12 or 1.5 percent at $75.66 a barrel.