The Singapore stock market has finished lower in seven straight sessions, sinking more than 190 points or 4.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,165-point plateau and it's overdue for support on Friday.
The global forecast is murky amidst uncertainties about interest rates and economic growth. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index tumbled 60.89 points or 1.89 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,165.18 after peaking at 3,216.73. Volume was 2.09 billion shares worth 1.99 billion Singapore dollars. There were 418 decliners and 149 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT skidded 2.55 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 1.79 percent, CapitaLand Investment weakened 2.58 percent, City Developments stumbled 2.91 percent, Comfort DelGro tanked 3.47 percent, Dairy Farm International slipped 1.12 percent, DBS Group retreated 2.69 percent, Genting Singapore lost 1.92 percent, Hongkong Land sank 2.34 percent, Keppel Corp declined 3.02 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust tumbled 3.35 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 2.02 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust surrendered 3.03 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gave away 1.02 percent, SATS and SembCorp Industries both dropped 2.51 percent, Singapore Exchange climbed 1.17 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.25 percent, SingTel was down 0.71 percent, Thai Beverage dipped 1.47 percent, United Overseas Bank slumped 1.40 percent, Wilmar International slid 1.67 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plunged 6.74 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 10.99 percent.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally ending mixed and little moved.
The Dow dropped 103.81 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 31,730.30, while the NASDAQ rose 6.73 points or 0.06 percent to close at 11,370.96 and the S&P 500 fell 5.10 points or 0.13 percent to end at 3,930.08.
The volatility on Wall Street came as traders continued to debate whether the markets have hit their bottom, with the major averages falling to their worst levels in over a year.
However, recent bargain hunting efforts have largely been thwarted by worries about the Federal Reserve aggressively raising interest rates in an effort to combat elevated inflation.
Adding to the worries, the Labor Department reported that the annual rate of producer price growth slowed less than expected in April. Also, the Labor Department unexpectedly showed a slight increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.
Crude oil futures ended modestly higher on Thursday as the European Union's proposal to ban Russian oil offset concerns of prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns in China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.42 or 0.4 percent at $106.13 a barrel.
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