Singapore Stock Market May Test Support At 3,200 Points

The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,215-point plateau and it may inch lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and mixed performances from the properties and industrials.

For the day, the index slipped 3.82 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,214.46 after trading between 3,205.00 and 3,221.41.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT slipped 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.52 percent, City Developments was down 0.15 percent, DBS Group sank 0.69 percent, Emperador surged 1.98 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 1.14 percent, Hongkong Land gained 0.57 percent, Keppel Corp advanced 1.17 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and SingTel both fell 0.43 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.08 percent, SATS rose 0.39 percent, Seatrium Limited slumped 0.72 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 1.58 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.78 percent, Thai Beverage spiked 1.69 percent, Venture Corporation soared 3.16 percent, Wilmar International improved 1.09 percent, Yangzijiang Financial climbed 1.39 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding shed 0.58 percent and CapitaLand Investment, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, rallied midday and then finished under water.

The Dow dipped 17.73 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 34,645.99, while the NASDAQ tumbled 144.28 points or 1.04 percent to close at 13,773.61 and the S&P 500 sank 25.56 points or 0.57 percent to end at 4,461.90.

The lower close on Wall Street came as traders look ahead to the release of the Labor Department’s highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation later today.

The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week; CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.0 percent chance the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged.

A steep drop by shares of Oracle (ORCL) weighed on the tech-heavy NASDAQ, with the software giant plunging by 13.5 percent after the company reported weaker than expected fiscal first quarter revenues and provided disappointing revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday to a 10-month closing high after the monthly report from (OPEC) showed the oil market may be a lot tighter than initially thought. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.55 or 1.8 percent at $88.84 a barrel.