Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 30 points or 1 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 2,860-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with several regional bourses ripe for profit taking, while an uptick in coronavirus cases may fuel the weak sentiment. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and industrials.

For the day, the index advanced 15.09 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 2,858.90 after trading between 2,836.25 and 2,861.21. Volume was 1.7 billion shares worth 992.8 million Singapore dollars. There were 260 gainers and 190 decliners.

Among the actives, Singapore Exchange surged 4.53 percent, while Wilmar International soared 3.23 percent, City Developments plummeted 2.13 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust spiked 1.39 percent, DBS Group accelerated 1.20 percent, Genting Singapore rallied 1.18 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.05 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tumbled 1.00 percent, Singapore Press Holdings climbed 0.88 percent, Keppel Corp gathered 0.74 percent, Thai Beverage skidded 0.68 percent, SembCorp Industries perked 0.58 percent, SATS sank 0.50 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.48 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust advanced 0.47 percent, Singapore Airlines shed 0.47 percent, United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation both collected 0.40 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.26 percent, Dairy Farm International rose 0.24 percent and Ascendas REIT, Jardine Matheson, SingTel, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, UOL Group, Comfort DelGro and CapitaLand all were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks shook off a steady start on Monday and headed sharply lower as the day progressed, cutting into recent gains.

The Dow tumbled 382.59 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 30,223.89, while the NASDAQ dropped 189.83 points or 1.47 percent to end at 12,698.45 and the S&P 500 sank 55.42 points or 1.48 percent to close at 3,700.65.

Upward momentum to start the New Year contributed to the initial strength on Wall Street, although buying interest waned shortly after the open. The subsequent pullback partly reflected profit taking after the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs.

Traders also were reluctant to push stocks higher amid uncertainty ahead of two key Senate runoffs in Georgia later today. Their outcome will determine which party controls the Senate and could have a major impact on what President-elect Joe Biden is able to accomplish.

The sharp pullback reflected concerns about the recent spike in coronavirus cases in several parts of the world, with a new strain of the virus being detected in the U.S. for the first time. Other countries, including the United Kingdom and Japan, are taking strong lockdown measures.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department reported a continued increase in construction spending in November.

Closer to home, Singapore will release November numbers for retail sales later today; in October, retail sales were up 0.2 percent on month and down 8.6 percent on year.

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