Singapore Shares Likely To Open Under Pressure On Monday

The Singapore stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, retreating almost 75 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,380-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is brutal on concerns of an economic slowdown in the United States. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and especially the industrial issues.

For the day, the index slumped 38.39 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 3,381.45 after trading between 3,377.23 and 3,397.65.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 0.47 percent, while CapitaLand Investment dropped 0.74 percent, City Developments retreated 1.12 percent, Comfort DelGro rallied 1.44 percent, DBS Group surrendered 1.86 percent, DFI Retail soared 2.30 percent, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust advanced 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.59 percent, Hongkong Land and Jardine Cycle both slumped 0.93 percent, Keppel DC REIT perked 0.27 percent, Keppel Ltd tumbled 1.74 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust skidded 0.87 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.76 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.13 percent, SATS rose 0.31 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 11.31 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 2.74 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.45 percent, Thai Beverage declined 0.99 percent, Wilmar International gained 0.63 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plunged 6.02 percent and Emperador, SingTel, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Yangzijiang Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained well under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 610.74 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 39,737.26, while the NASDAQ tumbled 417.94 points or 2.43 percent to close at 16,776.16 and the S&P dropped 100.12 points or 1.84 percent to end at 5,346.56. For the week, the NASDAQ plummeted 3.4 percent, and the S&P 500 and the Dow both shed 2.1 percent.

Concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy continued to weigh on Wall Street following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing employment increased by much less than expected in the month of July.

While weaker than expected economic data has been a positive for the markets amid expectations it would convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, traders are concerned the Fed has waited too long and could spur a U.S. recession.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to the latest earnings news, with companies like Intel (INTC) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) leading the way lower.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, sliding for a second successive session on rising concerns about the outlook for demand due to slowing growth in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $2.79 or 3.66 percent at $73.52 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release June figures for retail sales later today; in May, sales were up 2.4 percent on month and 2.2 percent on year.

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