Singapore Shares May Extend Thursday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 150 points or 3 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 4,960-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over the Middle East conflict, although easing oil prices may limit the downside. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index lost 34.56 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 4,967.61 after trading between 4,938.28 and 4,986.18.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT shed 0.77 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dropped 1.25 percent, CapitaLand Investment stumbled 2.43 percent, City Developments tanked 3.40 percent, DBS Group slipped 0.50 percent, DFI Retail Group plummeted 5.11 percent, Genting Singapore gained 0.74 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 4.17 percent, Keppel Ltd and Seatrium Limited both retreated 1.65 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 1.45 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 1.00 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust declined 1.64 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.23 percent, SATS fell 0.54 percent, SembCorp Industries added 0.98 percent, Singapore Airlines slumped 1.49 percent, Singapore Exchange lost 0.56 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.09 percent, SingTel rose 0.39 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 2.22 percent, United Overseas Bank was down 0.13 percent, UOL Group contracted 1.47 percent, Wilmar International slid 0.26 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surrendered 2.19 percent and Keppel DC REIT was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and stayed that way for most of the session, although a late rally pared the damage to mild by the day's end.

The Dow dropped 203.72 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 46,021.43, while the NASDAQ sank 61.73 points or 0.28 percent to close at 22,090.69 and the S&P 500 fell 18.21 points or 0.27 percent to close at 6,606.49.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about the escalation of the war in the Middle East following attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the region.

However, after soaring to nearly $120 a barrel following the latest attacks, Brent crude oil futures have pulled back sharply, contributing to the recovery attempt by stocks.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday as traders dissected U.S. inventory data showing ample supply against production and supply disruption concerns due to the Middle East war. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down $0.18 or 0.19 percent at $96.14 per barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will see unemployment data for Q4 later today; the jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 2.0 percent.