The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in back-to-back sessions, sliding almost 50 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,250-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of volatile anxiety ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement later today, with tech shares expected to weigh heavily. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The STI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index sank 35.59 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 3,247.76 after trading between 3,235.17 and 3,267.55. Volume was 1.55 billion shares worth 1.53 billion Singapore dollars. There were 371 decliners and 145 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT lost 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dipped 0.50 percent, City Developments stumbled 1.26 percent, Dairy Farm International sank 1.04 percent, DBS Group skidded 1.29 percent, Genting Singapore plunged 2.63 percent, Hongkong Land eased 0.36 percent, Keppel Corp surrendered 1.67 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust and Singapore Technologies Engineering both slid 0.54 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust fell 0.57 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation weakened 1.22 percent, SATS retreated 1.51 percent, Singapore Airlines tumbled 1.78 percent, Singapore Exchange slumped 1.16 percent, Singapore Press Holdings was down 0.43 percent, SingTel shed 0.80 percent, Thai Beverage declined 1.52 percent, United Overseas Bank dropped 0.93 percent, Wilmar International tanked 2.34 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 4.55 percent and Comfort DelGro and SembCorp Industries were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout most of the trading day.
The Dow shed 66.77 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 34,297.73, while the NASDAQ plummeted 315.83 points or 2.28 percent to end at 13,539.29 and the S&P 500 sank 53.68 points or 1.22 percent to close at 4,356.45.
The continued volatility on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. The Fed is likely to leave interest rates unchanged, although the accompanying statement could hint at the first rate hike as early as the next meeting in March.
The recovery attempt by the Dow was due to a rally by shares of American Express (AXP), fueled by better than expected fourth quarter results. Dow components Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and IBM Corp. (IBM) also posted strong Q4 gains that beat the street.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board said consumer confidence pulled back less than expected in January.
Crude oil prices moved sharply higher Tuesday, recovering after the previous session's decline amid a drop in supplies in the market due to growing tension in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $2.29 or 2.8 percent at $85.60 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will release December data for industrial production later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.9 percent on month and 12.0 percent on year following the 2.3 percent monthly increase and the 14.6 percent yearly gain in November.