Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For Singapore Bourse

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday ended the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 25 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,480-point plateau although it may head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian bourse is negative, with technology and oil shares likely to lead the markets lower. The European and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished sharply higher on Thursday as the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues ended mostly in the green.

For the day, the index jumped 67.87 points or 1.54 percent to finish at 4,484.99 after trading between 4,414.81 and 4,485.50.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT gathered 0.36 percent, while City Developments rallied 1.43 percent, DBS Group soared 3.81 percent, DFI Retail Group strengthened 1.17 percent, Hongkong Land was up 0.16 percent, Keppel DC REIT slumped 0.83 percent, Keppel Ltd spiked 2.48 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust rose 0.68 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.76 percent, SATS gained 0.88 percent, Seatrium Limited added 0.93 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.11 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering perked 0.12 percent, SingTel skyrocketed 5.39 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 1.06 percent, United Overseas Bank stumbled 2.78 percent, UOL Group jumped 1.63 percent, Wilmar International accelerated 2.18 percent, Yangzijiang Financial improved 0.95 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 3.90 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Investment, Genting Singapore, Comfort DelGro and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened in the red on Thursday and spent the entire session under water, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow stumbled 398.70 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 46,912.30, while the NASDAQ plunged 445.80 points or 1.90 percent to close at 23,053.99 and the S&P 500 sank 75.97 points or 1.12 percent to end at 6,720.32.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street came on renewed weakness among artificial intelligence-related stocks, which led the sell-off on Tuesday. Concerns about an AI bubble and the possibility of a near-term correction have recently weighed on investors' minds.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showing a sharp increase in layoff announcements in the month of October.

Crude oil prices fell Thursday on oversupply concerns after the American Petroleum Institute revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories increased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.21 or 0.35 percent at $59.39 per barrel.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.