The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 10 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,210-point plateau and may stop the bleeding on Friday.
The global forecast is murky, with support from technology stocks likely offset by concern over the ongoing U.S. debt ceiling situation. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished slightly lower on Thursday as losses from the properties and industrials were pared by support from the financial sector.
For the day, the index slid 6.49 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 3,207.72 after trading between 3,195.95 and 3,213.23.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT plunged 2.54 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tanked 1.98 percent, CapitaLand Investment shed 0.57 percent, City Developments fell 0.29 percent, Comfort DelGro retreated 1.75 percent, DBS Group collected 0.67 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 3.04 percent, Emperador advanced 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.00 percent, Hongkong Land slumped 1.36 percent, Keppel Corp tumbled 1.87 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust declined 1.79 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust skidded 1.21 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and SembCorp Industries both gained 0.41 percent, SingTel dropped 1.17 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.87 percent, United Overseas Bank jumped 1.19 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.50 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Mapletree Industrial Trust, SATS and UOL Group were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and finished the same way.
