The Singapore stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 35 points or 1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,400-point plateau, although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher on uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the property stocks and industrial issues, while the financials came in mixed.
For the day, the index eased 6.34 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 3,404.47 after trading between 3,396.47 and 3,413.78.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 0.50 percent, while CapitaLand Investment lost 0.38 percent, City Developments eased 0.19 percent, Comfort DelGro soared 2.24 percent, DBS Group dropped 0.64 percent, Emperador rallied 1.18 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.18 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.62 percent, Keppel DC REIT jumped 1.10 percent, Keppel Ltd skidded 0.76 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.81 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tumbled 1.56 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.33 percent, SATS climbed 1.02 percent, SembCorp Industries declined 1.05 percent, SingTel fell 0.35 percent, Venture Corporation surged 3.89 percent, Yangzijiang Financial spiked 1.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding stumbled 0.83 percent and Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, DFI Retail Group, Jardine Cycle, Seatrium Limited, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Monday but quickly faded and spent the rest of the day bouncing back and forth across the line before ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow shed 31.08 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 39,344.79, while the NASDAQ added 50.98 points or 0.28 percent to close at a record 18,403.74 and the S&P rose 5.66 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,572.85 - also a record.
The inconsistency on Wall Street reflected uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of several key economic events this week, including reports on consumer and producer prices.
Traders are also likely to pay close attention to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell\'s congressional testimony this week, looking for clues about the interest rate outlook.
Oil prices fell on Monday after Hurricane Beryl forced the shutdown of some oil export facilities near Houston. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.83 or 1 percent at $82.33 a barrel.