Singapore Shares Poised To Open Under Pressure

The Singapore stock market on Wednesday snapped the seven-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 140 points or 3.9 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,590-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative after the Federal Reserve announced its well-telegraphed rate cut. The European and U.S. markets saw mild losses and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The STI finished barely lower on Wednesday as losses from the property stocks and REITs were offset by support from the financial shares and industrials.

For the day, the index eased 1.00 point or 0.03 percent to finish at 3,592.42 after trading between 3,573.22 and 3,596.91.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 1.85 percent, while CapitaLand Investment tumbled 2.01 percent, City Developments declined 1.62 percent, DBS Group rose 0.26 percent, Keppel DC REIT skidded 0.88 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.31 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust stumbled 2.00 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.78 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.69 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.39 percent, SATS fell 0.27 percent, Seatrium Limited slumped 1.18 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 2.12 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering climbed 1.08 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.94 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Hongkong Land, Comfort DelGro, SingTel, Thai Beverage and Yangzijiang Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages hugged the line until the Fed’s monetary policy announcement; after an initial spike, they turned lower and ended in the red.

The Dow sank 103.08 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 41,503.10, while the NASDAQ shed 54.76 points or 0.31 percent to close at 17,573.30 and the S&P 500 fell 16.32 points or 0.29 percent to end at 5,618.26.

The late-day volatility on Wall Street came after the Fed decided to lower interest rates for the first time in over four years, aggressively slashing rates by half a percentage point.

The economic projections provided by Fed officials at the meeting suggested the central bank will cut rates by another 50 basis points by the end of the year.

Fed officials also expect to continue lowering rates next year, with the projections indicating rates will be lower by another full percentage point by the end of 2025.

Thanks to profit taking, crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday, despite a drop in U.S. crude inventories and the rate cut. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended down $0.28 or 0.39 percent at $70.91 a barrel.

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