(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for Deepavali, the Singapore stock market had turned lower again, one session after snapping the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,100-point plateau and it's likely to hover around that level on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of a possible U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index dropped 28.64 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 3,106.68 after trading between 3,100.38 and 3,121.26.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT weakened 1.47 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust declined 1.65 percent, CapitaLand Investment plummeted 2.97 percent, City Developments tanked 2.10 percent, Comfort DelGro slid 0.75 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.57 percent, Emperador rallied 2.00 percent, Genting Singapore surrendered 1.73 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.71 percent, Keppel Corp sank 0.95 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 1.48 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.91 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 1.28 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slipped 0.69 percent, Seatrium Limited shed 0.92 percent, SembCorp Industries skidded 1.37 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 1.57 percent, SingTel tumbled 1.67 percent, Wilmar International fell 0.83 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 1.52 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.36 percent and SATS, Thai Beverage and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened sharply lower on Monday before recovering to finish mixed and little changed.
The Dow added 54.77 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 34,337.87, while the NASDAQ slipped 30.36 points or 0.22 percent to close at 13,767.74 and the S&P 500 fell 3.69 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,411.55.
The early weakness on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on last week's rally, which lifted the tech-heavy NASDAQ to a nearly two-month closing high.
Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to news credit rating agency Moody's has lowered its outlook for the U.S. credit rating to negative from stable amid concerns about a possible government shutdown.
The selling pressure was offset by a New York Federal Reserve report showing a modest decrease in consumer inflation expectations, sparking optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.
Crude oil prices moved up on Monday, gaining for a third straight session amid some optimism about the outlook for energy demand, as well as a weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $1.09 or 1.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.
