The Singapore stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one session after it had ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 40 points or 1.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,070-point plateau and it's called lower again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on geopolitical concerns, interest rate fears and a drop in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The STI finished barely lower on Thursday as losses from the financials and properties were offset by support from the industrials.
For the day, the index dipped 1.43 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,069.67 after trading between 3,050.64 and 3,074.74. Volume was 1.98 billion shares worth 927.5 million Singapore dollars. There were 208 decliners and 152 gainers.
Among the actives, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 4.58 percent, while Hutchison Port Holdings soared 2.04 percent, City Developments plunged 1.55 percent, Wilmar International tumbled 1.31 percent, Singapore Press Holdings spiked 0.77 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 0.68 percent, United Overseas Bank dropped 0.59 percent, DBS Group shed 0.57 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.56 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 0.53 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.45 percent, Ascendas REIT added 0.39 percent, Keppel Corp gained 0.30 percent and CapitaLand, Golden Agri-Resources, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, SingTel, Thai Beverage, CapitaLand Mall Trust and Hongkong Land Holdings all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks moved sharply lower on Thursday. The major averages attempted a recovery after seeing early weakness but saw a significant pullback as the day progressed.
The Dow shed 327.36 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 25,379.32, while the NASDAQ lost 157.56 points or 2.06 percent to 7,485.14 and the S&P fell 40.43 points or 1.44 percent to 2,768.78.
The sell-off on Wall Street came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he will not attend an upcoming investment conference in Saudi Arabia - which continues to face considerable international pressure over the disappearance and apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates also weighed on the markets as the Fed's forecasts point to one more rate hike before the end of this year - with more to follow in 2019.
In economic news, the Labor Department noted a drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended October 13. Also, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said manufacturing activity grew at a slower rate in October. And the Conference Board said its index of leading U.S. economic indicators increased as expected in September.
Crude oil futures settled at a five-week low on Thursday, extending the previous session's losses due to a sharp jump in U.S. crude inventories. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for November delivery ended down $1.10 or 1.6 percent at $68.65 a barrel.
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