Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market on Thursday halted the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 25 points or 0.8 percent. Now at a 30-month closing high, the Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,315-point plateau although it’s expected to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft with profit taking expected, especially among technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board – especially from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index soared 66.40 points or 2.04 percent to finish at 3,315.99 after trading between 3,290.29 and 3,326.38. Volume was 1.21 billion shares worth 1.98 billion Singapore dollars. There were 256 gainers and 116 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT was up 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust surged 4.12 percent, City Developments rose 0.85 percent, Comfort DelGro strengthened 2.21 percent, Dairy Farm International gained 1.12 percent, DBS Group collected 1.42 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 2.04 percent, Hongkong Land skyrocketed 5.56 percent, Keppel Corp perked 1.77 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Singapore Exchange both added 1.18 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 2.57 percent, SATS increased 0.77 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 2.63 percent, Singapore Airlines gathered 2.00 percent, Singapore Press Holdings improved 0.43 percent, SingTel spiked 2.88 percent, United Overseas Bank soared 3.47 percent, Wilmar International accelerated 3.04 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 2.33 percent and Mapletree Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage and Singapore Technologies Engineering were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and stayed that way throughout the session, ending a four-day winning streak.

The Dow plunged 518.17 points or 1.45 percent to finish at 35,111.16, while the NASDAQ plummeted 538.73 points or 3.74 percent to end at 13,878.82 and the S&P tumbled 111.94 points or 2.44 percent to close at 4,477.44.

A steep drop by Meta (FB) weighed on the tech sector, with the Facebook parent plunging nearly 27 percent, and hitting its lowest intraday level in well over a year after reporting weaker than expected Q4 earnings and disappointing revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Several other social media stocks, including Snap and Twitter, tumbled as well. Weak earnings updates from other companies like Honeywell (down more than 7 percent) and Spotify (down nearly 17 percent) also weighed on sentiment.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Institute for Supply Management noted a continued slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in January.

Crude oil prices surged on Thursday as concerns about possible supply disruptions outweighed OPEC’s decision to increase crude output in March. Geopolitical concerns in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have raised concerns about supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $2.01 or 2.3 percent at a seven-year high $90.27 a barrel.

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