Singapore Stock Market Called Rangebound On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market rebounded on Monday, one session after halting the six-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 250 points or 5.1 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 5,200-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower amid weakness from technology shares and concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses figure to also open to the downside.

The STI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the retail and financial shares and mixed performances from the property stocks and industrial companies.

For the day, the index rose 11.31 points or 0.22 percent to finish at the daily high of 5,204.01 after moving as low as 5,174.30.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust skidded 0.85 percent, while CapitaLand Investment retreated 1.56 percent, City Developments tumbled 2.42 percent, DBS Group gained 0.50 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 3.80 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 1.13 percent, Keppel DC REIT lost 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd declined 1.15 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.79 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.52 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tanked 2.44 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.50 percent, SATS rose 0.46 percent, Seatrium Limited shed 0.49 percent, SembCorp Industries strengthened 0.63 percent, Singapore Airlines climbed 0.69 percent, Singapore Exchange was up 0.42 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.18 percent, SingTel perked 0.23 percent, Thai Beverage cratered 2.25 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.54 percent, UOL Group stumbled 1.92 percent, Wilmar International slumped 1.07 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.54 percent and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Genting Singapore and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south before finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 148.01 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 51,712.71, while the NASDAQ tumbled 351.33 points or 1.32 percent to close at 26,166.60 and the S&P 500 sank 27.79 points or 0.37 percent to end at 7,472.79.

The slump by the NASDAQ came amid weakness among technology stocks, with shares of SpaceX (SPCX) plummeting by 16.4 percent. An increase by treasury yields weighed on tech stocks, as the yield on the two-year note reaches its highest levels in over a year.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates drove yields higher ahead of the release of key inflation data later in the week.

Traders seem worried that an acceleration in the pace of inflation as a result of President Donald Trump's war with Iran could lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this year.

Crude oil prices plunged on Monday even though the Iranian military says it has again closed off the Strait of Hormuz, although there are reports of commercial vessels are operating freely in the strait. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $1.63 or 2.13 percent at $74.97 per barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release May numbers for consumer prices later this morning; in April, overall inflation was down 0.3 percent on month and up 1.8 percent on year, while core CPI was up an annual 1.4 percent.