The Singapore stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, giving away almost 30 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,520-point plateau and it may open under pressure again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to concerns over a U.S. government shutdown and a fall in crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, industrial issues and plantation stocks.
For the day, the index sank 20.60 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 3,521.31 after trading between 3,517.90 and 3,561.45. Volume was 1.75 billion shares worth 1.32 billion Singapore dollars. There were 255 decliners and 199 gainers.
Among the actives, Wilmar International plummeted 2.16 percent, while CapitaLand Commercial Trust plunged 1.54 percent, Golden Agri-Resources tumbled 1.28 percent, Hutchison Port Holdings skidded 1.20 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dropped 1.14 percent, United Overseas Bank shed 1.10 percent, Singapore Exchange jumped 1.03 percent, Comfort DelGro lost 0.99 percent, Keppel Corp dipped 0.98 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.91 percent, DBS Group slid 0.80 percent, Genting Singapore gave away 0.75 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was down 0.63 percent, Thai Beverage retreated 0.54 percent, CapitaLand added 0.26 percent and SingTel and StarHub were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks gave ground on Thursday as the major averages eased from Wednesday's record closing highs.
The Dow shed 97.84 points or 0.37 percent to 26,017.81, while the NASDAQ lost 2.23 points or 0.03 percent to 7,296.05 and the S&P 500 fell 4.53 points or 0.16 percent to 2,798.03.
The weakness on Wall Street was partly attributed to concerns about a potential government shutdown, with a deadline to pass a spending bill looming today.
Profit taking may also have contributed to the pullback by stocks, with some traders cashing on the recent run to record highs.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop in new residential construction in December, while the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits pulled back to lowest level in nearly 45 years in the week ended January 13th.
Crude oil prices were flat Thursday amid speculation the fossil fuel is overbought near three-year highs. After cold weather interruptions, U.S. crude production rose 258,000 barrels per day to 9.75 million bpd last week. February WTI oil was down 2 cents to $63.95/bbl on Nymex.
by RTT Staff Writer
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