The Singapore stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen almost 40 points or 1.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,220-point plateau although it may bounce higher again on Friday.
The global forecast is murky on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished slightly lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index dipped 1.23 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,222.43 after trading between 3,211.18 and 3,228.35.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT skidded 1.09 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust declined 1.52 percent, City Developments lost 0.87 percent, DBS Group jumped 1.50 percent, Emperador advanced 0.96 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 1.05 percent, Hongkong Land added 0.50 percent, Keppel Corp slid 0.45 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plummeted 1.80 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.89 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tumbled 1.78 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.96 percent, SATS and Wilmar International both fell 0.76 percent, SembCorp Industries advanced 0.74 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slumped 1.37 percent, SingTel gained 0.40 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.47 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Seatrium Limited, Thai Beverage, CapitaLand Investment and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally ending mixed.
The Dow dipped 4.81 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 33,946.71, while the NASDAQ jumped 128.41 points or 0.95 percent to end ay 13,630.61 and the S&P 500 added 16.20 points or 0.37 percent to close at 4,381.89.
Buying interest may also have been generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims held at their highest level since October 2021 last week.
With the Federal Reserve repeatedly warning about the impact of labor market tightness, the data may have added to optimism the central bank will not follow through on plans to continue raising interest rates.
Lingering concerns about rates limited the upside, however, as the Bank of England raised rates more aggressively, hiking rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points.
Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday as interest rate hikes and inflation concerns raised concerns about the outlook for fuel demand, while a stronger greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $3.02 or 4.1 percent at $69.51 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will provide May figures for consumer prices later today; in April, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 5.7 percent on year, while core CPI climbed an annual 5.0 percent.
Market Analysis
Singapore Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Green
2023-06-23 00:00:03
