The Singapore stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 50 points or 1.5 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,440-point plateau although it's likely to stop the bleeding on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting among the technology stocks expected to fuel the rally. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.
The STI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financials and properties.
For the day, the index fell 10.30 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 3,437.26 after trading between 3,433.53 and 3,448.68.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment and Mapletree Logistics Trust both dropped 0.74 percent, while City Developments added 0.37 percent, DBS Group tumbled 1.34 percent, Hongkong Land declined 0.89 percent, Keppel Ltd eased 0.15 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.44 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.53 percent, SATS slumped 0.93 percent, Seatrium Limited sank 0.68 percent, SembCorp Industries skidded 0.96 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 1.12 percent, SingTel advanced 0.99 percent, Thai Beverage plunged 1.98 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plummeted 2.94 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding lost 0.43 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Keppel DC REIT, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Wilmar International, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and mostly stayed that way throughout the trading day.
The Dow climbed 127.91 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 40,415.44, while the NASDAQ surged 280.63 points or 1.58 percent to end at 18,007.57 and the S&P 500 rallied 59.41 points or 1.08 percent to close at 5,564.41.
The strength on Wall Street came as tech stocks regained ground following the steep drop seen last week, which saw the NASDAQ plunge by 3.7 percent. AI darling and tech sector leader Nvidia (NVDA) led the rebound, spiking 4.8 percent.
The advance by Nvidia also lent considerable strength to the semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soaring 4.0 percent after ending last week at its lowest closing level in over a month.
Stocks also moved higher after President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris.
Crude oil futures eased on Monday, declining for the third consecutive session on concerns about the outlook for oil demand and renewed hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.35 or at $79.78 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will release June figures for consumer prices; in May, overall inflation was up 0.7 percent on month and 3.1 percent on year, while core CPI also rose an annual 3.1 percent. – RTT News