The Singapore stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 25 points or 0.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,220-point plateau although it may bounce higher again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on conflicting signals over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index dropped 25.06 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 3,222.66 after trading between 3,209.43 and 3,233.91.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.51 percent, while CapitaLand Investment plunged 1.82 percent, City Developments skidded 1.03 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.69 percent, DBS Group slid 0.30 percent, Emperador and Seatrium Limited both rallied 1.19 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 1.62 percent, Keppel DC REIT slumped 1.16 percent, Keppel Ltd declined 1.22 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust retreated 1.29 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust shed 0.68 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.29 percent, SATS stumbled 1.17 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.37 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.99 percent, SingTel plummeted 4.33 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 1.01 percent, Wilmar International tumbled 1.42 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Genting Singapore were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, moved modestly into the green and then finished mixed.
The Dow dipped 43.10 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 39,127.14, while the NASDAQ rose 37.01 points or 0.23 percent to close at 16,277.46 and the S&P 500 perked 5.68 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,211.49.
The early turnaround on Wall Street followed a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected slowdown in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in March.
Worries the Federal Reserve may hold off on lowering interest rates also contributed to the early weakness on Wall Street after payroll processor ADP noted stronger than expected private sector job growth in the U.S. in March.
Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated during remarks at Stanford University that the central bank is not in a hurry to begin lowering interest rates.
Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday after OPEC ended its meeting without making any changes to its production policy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.28 or 0.33 percent at $85.43 a barrel. – RTT News
