The Singapore stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 55 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,580-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit, although profit taking may take hold later in the day.
The STI finished slightly lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index eased 1.04 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 3,582.23 after trading between 3,570.66 and 3,609.06.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both rallied 1.90 percent, CapitaLand Investment jumped 1.35 percent, City Developments gained 0.56 percent, Comfort DelGro strengthened 1.33 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.18 percent, DFI Retail soared 2.58 percent, Emperador slumped 1.14 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 1.18 percent, Hongkong Land advanced 0.83 percent, Keppel Ltd shed 0.31 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.68 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust improved 0.82 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation lost 0.26 percent, SATS climbed 1.12 percent, Seatrium Limited added 0.57 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 2.19 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.22 percent, SingTel plummeted 2.13 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.95 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 2.86 percent and Keppel DC REIT, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and maintained a positive bias throughout the session.
The Dow rallied 260.36 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 42,175.11, while the NASDAQ jumped 108.09 points or 0.60 percent to end at 18,190.29 and the S&P 500 added 23.11 points or 0.40 percent to close at 5,745.37.
The early rally on Wall Street reflected strength in the tech sector, with chipmaker Micron (MU) helping lead the way higher after reporting better than expected quarterly results and providing strong fiscal revenue guidance.
Stocks also benefited from the release of upbeat U.S. economic data after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week. The Commerce Department also reported that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods were virtually unchanged in August.
Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday, weighed down by concerns about excess supply in the market after reports said OPEC will return 2.2 million barrels per day of production cuts back into the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $2.02 or 2.9 percent at $67.67 a barrel.