The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in consecutive trading days, sinking more than 20 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,140-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is murky, with little movement expected among ongoing Covid-19 concerns. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index shed 18.08 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 3,138.97 after trading between 3,127.78 and 3,160.44. Volume was 1.44 billion shares worth 1.01 billion Singapore dollars. There were 285 decliners and 229 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT dipped 0.33 percent, while CapitaLand gained 0.50 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and SembCorp Industries both fell 0.48 percent, City Developments was down 0.29 percent, Comfort DelGro tanked 1.27 percent, Dairy Farm International dropped 0.74 percent, DBS Group shed 0.70 percent, Genting Singapore lost 0.61 percent, Keppel Corp retreated 0.94 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust declined 0.93 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust skidded 0.95 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation tumbled 1.07 percent, SATS spiked 1.81 percent, Singapore Airlines soared 1.83 percent, Singapore Exchange advanced 0.85 percent, Singapore Press Holdings added 0.54 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.25 percent, SingTel surrendered 0.89 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.76 percent, United Overseas Bank slid 0.46 percent, Wilmar International plunged 1.55 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 2.13 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages shook off a soft open on Monday, climbing gradually throughout the day to finish at fresh record closing highs.
The Dow gained 82.76 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 35,144.31, while the NASDAQ rose 3.72 points or 0.03 percent to end at 16,565.31 and the S&P 500 added 10.51 points or 0.24 percent to close at 4,422.30.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as upbeat earnings news warred with concerns about the spread of new coronavirus variants.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay close attention to any comments regarding its asset purchase program.
In economic news, the Commerce Department showed another steep drop in new home sales in June.
Crude oil futures settled lower Monday amid worries about the outlook for energy demand due to the rapidly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus in several countries around the world. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down by $0.16 or 0.2 percent at $71.91 a barrel after four straight days of gains.
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