(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in four straight sessions, slumping almost 50 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,065-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index sank 20.48 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 3,065.94 after trading between 3,061.88 and 3,089.55.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT fell 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust stumbled 1.60 percent, CapitaLand Investment and Mapletree Industrial Trust both dropped 1.30 percent, City Developments skidded 1.45 percent, Comfort DelGro slumped 1.48 percent, DBS Group slipped 0.35 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.64 percent, Hongkong Land shed 0.92 percent, Keppel Corp and Venture Corp both were down 0.31 percent, Keppel DC REIT plummeted 4.12 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plunged 2.17 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tumbled 1.87 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.24 percent, SATS dipped 0.37 percent, Seatrium Limited declined 1.83 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.98 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.80 percent, SingTel slid 0.44 percent, Thai Beverage tanked 1.96 percent, Wilmar International surrendered 1.90 percent, Yangzijiang Financial weakened 1.56 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Emperador were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the line before ending modestly higher.
The Dow gained 83.51 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 35,416.98, while the NASDAQ added 40.73 points or 0.29 percent to close at 14,281.76 and the S&P 500 rose 4.46 points or 0.10 percent to end at 4,554.89.
The choppy performance on Wall Street was the result of conflicting commentary regarding interest rates from Federal Reserve governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman.
Speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event, Waller said he is "increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2 percent."
But then Bowman said during a Utah Bankers Association and Salt Lake Chamber breakfast that she continues to expect the Fed we will need to increase rates further to keep policy sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2 percent.
Crude oil prices rose sharply Tuesday on hopes that OPEC will extend output cuts at Thursday's ministerial meeting. A weak dollar contributed as well to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended up $1.55 or 2.1 percent at $76.41 a barrel.
