The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 90 points or 2.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,470-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with continued selling pressure expected among technology and semiconductor stocks. The European and U.S. markets were mostly down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The STI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index lost 18.41 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 3,471.16 after trading between 3,463.64 and 3,477.64.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment retreated 1.09 percent, while City Developments fell 0.55 percent, DBS Group and Keppel DC REIT both skidded 1.02 percent, Emperador stumbled 1.18 percent, Genting Singapore and Hongkong Land both lost 0.58 percent, Keppel Ltd shed 0.60 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 0.76 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.66 percent, SATS slid 0.31 percent, SembCorp Industries slumped 1.05 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering and Frasers Centrepoint Trust both added 0.46 percent, SingTel jumped 1.32 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 1.01 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.95 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 2.89 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Comfort DelGro and Seatrium Limited were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is poor as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly headed south and stayed deep in the red for the remainder of the session.
The Dow plunged 533.06 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 40,665.02, while the NASDAQ lost 125.70 points or 0.70 percent to end at 17,871.22 and the S&P 500 sank 43.68 points or 0.78 percent to close at 5,544.59.
The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday\'s tech sell-off following reports that the Biden\'s administration is considering tougher trade rules against companies in its chip crackdown on China.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed more than expected last week.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that growth by regional manufacturing was more widespread in July. Also, the Conference Board noted a modest decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in June.
Oil futures eased slightly on Thursday concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China, while the dollar\'s recovery weighed as well on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.03 at $82.82 a barrel.