The Singapore stock market has finished lower in back-to-back trading days, sinking more than 20 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,155-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and industrials, while the property stocks were mixed.
For the day, the index lost 13.67 points or 0.43 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,153.47 after trading as high as 3,169.08. Volume was 1.95 billion shares worth 1.29 billion Singapore dollars. There were 247 decliners and 238 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT climbed 1.37 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust jumped 1.90 percent, City Developments shed 0.52 percent, Dairy Farm International lost 0.46 percent, DBS Group retreated 1.03 percent, Genting Singapore added 0.57 percent, Keppel Corp plunged 1.51 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust spiked 1.91 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dropped 0.72 percent, SATS advanced 0.74 percent, SembCorp Industries declined 0.91 percent, Singapore Airlines soared 2.45 percent, Singapore Exchange slid 0.29 percent, SingTel tumbled 1.27 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.73 percent, United Overseas Bank skidded 1.06 percent, Wilmar International fell 0.42 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tanked 1.36 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Jardine Strategic Holdings, Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore Technologies Engineering, CapitaLand and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks opened mixed on Wednesday, bounced back and forth across the unchanged line and eventually ended slightly lower.
The Dow dropped 152.68 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 34,447.14, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.16 points or 0.09 percent to end at 13,911.75 and the S&P 500 eased 7.71 points or 0.18 percent to close at 4,219.55.
The cautious trade on Wall Street reflected concerns over key inflation data that could prompt the Federal Reserve to begin discussions on tapering its asset buying program sooner than expected.
In economic news, the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories rose 0.8 percent on month to $ 698.0 billion in April after seeing a 1.2 percent increase in March.
Crude oil prices edged lower on Wednesday after data showed a jump in U.S. gasoline stockpiles last week. West Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended down $0.09 or 0.1 percent at $69.96 a barrel.
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