Rebound Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market on Monday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,285-point plateau although it’s tipped to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with bargain hunting expected after recent heavy losses. The European markets were sharply lower and the U.S. bourses moved higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the properties and mixed performances from the financials and industrials.

For the day, the index sank 11.51 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 3,283.35 after trading between 3,266.15 and 3,294.22. Volume was 960 million shares worth 949 million Singapore dollars. There were 299 decliners and 156 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT retreated 1.04 percent, while City Developments shed 0.42 percent, Comfort DelGro tanked 1.45 percent, Dairy Farm International rose 0.35 percent, DBS Group rose 0.31 percent, Genting Singapore plummeted 1.94 percent, Keppel Corp and Hongkong Land both improved 0.37 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust declined 1.08 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust surrendered 1.12 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.08 percent, SATS lost 0.25 percent, SembCorp Industries slumped 0.45 percent, Singapore Airlines skidded 0.78 percent, Singapore Exchange dropped 0.52 percent, Singapore Press Holdings added 0.43 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.53 percent, SingTel gained 0.40 percent, United Overseas Bank tumbled 1.19 percent, Wilmar International plunged 1.84 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up being positive as a late rally erased the deep losses that otherwise permeated the session.

The Dow climbed 99.13 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 34,364.50, while the NASDAQ gained 86.21 points or 0.63 percent to close at 13,855.13 and the S&P 500 rose 12.19 points or 0.28 percent to end at 4,410.13.

The stunning turnaround came as traders went bargain hunting following recent weakness on Wall Street, with some analysts describing the sell-off as overdone.

Concerns about tightening monetary policy continued to weigh on the markets early in the session ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting.

The Fed is scheduled to begin a two-day meeting later today, with the latest monetary policy decision due Wednesday afternoon. While the Fed is likely to leave interest rates unchanged, the accompanying statement could hint at the first rate hike as early as the next meeting in March.

Crude oil prices plunged sharply Monday amid rising fears the Federal Reserve might resort to aggressive monetary tightening. A firm dollar also weighed on oil prices on rising tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March dropped $1.83 or 2.2 percent at $83.31 a barrel.