The Singapore stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 50 points or 1.8 percent en route to a 15-month closing high. The Straits Times Index finished just below the 2,780-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting continued softness when the market opens for business on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for slight weakness, thanks to a mild retreat in the price of commodities - except for gold - while properties, financials and technology stocks could fall under some pressure. The European and U.S. markets ended slightly lower, and the Asian bourses are also tipped to trend to the downside.
The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday, pushed lower by selling among the financials and airlines.
For the day, the index shed 17.90 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 2,779.98 after trading between 2,779.98 and 2,803.85. Volume was 1.41 billion shares worth 1.49 billion Singapore dollars. There were 300 decliners and 179 gainers, with 853 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Singapore Airlines ended lower but Singapore Telecommunications finished slightly higher.
Wall Street offers a modestly soft lead as stocks closed lower by slim margins on Tuesday, with the day's light volume limiting reaction to a batch of largely lackluster economic data. The major averages all closed in negative territory, offsetting a small portion of yesterday's strong gains.
Initial weakness in the equity markets came as traders reacted negatively to the Commerce Department's downward revision to the pace of GDP growth in the third quarter. The adjustment was slightly sharper economists had anticipated, although the data continued to show growth in the economy. The report said that GDP increased by an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter compared to the 3.5 percent growth that had been reported last month. Economists had been expecting the pace of GDP growth to be revised down to about 2.9 percent.
Further, Standard and Poor's said that home prices in the twenty major metropolitan areas in the U.S. decreased at a slower annual rate in the month of September, but the pace of decline was still slightly faster than forecast.
Stocks remained negative despite the release of a Conference Board report in mid-morning trading showing that the consumer confidence index rose to 49.5 in November from an upwardly revised 48.7 in October. The increase surprised economists, who had expected the index to edge down to 47.5 from the 47.7 originally reported for the previous month.
This afternoon, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of the November Federal Open Market Committee Meeting, revealing a general consensus that a weak labor market will keep inflation subdued as the economy recovers.
Looking ahead, the Fed unemployment projections remained relatively unchanged from the June projections. The central bank revealed expected unemployment levels of 9.3 percent to 9.7 percent for 2010 and 8.2 percent to 8.6 percent for 2011. With the labor market continuing to weigh on the economy, the committee agreed to keep interest rates at near zero levels for an extended period.
While the Dow and the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the unchanged line in the latter part of the trading day, the major averages all closed in the red. The Dow closed down by 17.24 points or 0.2 percent at 10,433.71, the NASDAQ fell by 6.83 points or 0.3 percent to 2,169.18 and the S&P 500 slipped by 0.59 points or 0.1 percent to 1,105.65.
In economic news, tourist arrivals into Singapore dropped 0.5 percent in October from a year earlier, the Singapore Tourism Board said Tuesday. Tourist arrivals totaled 845,000 in the month. During the month, visitor arrivals from South Korea dropped 48.1 percent partly due to continued cautious travel sentiments around the global outbreak of Influenza A.
At the same time, nine of the 15 major tourist arrival markets posted growth. The biggest growth of 27.4 percent came from Hong Kong, mainly due to the attractive trade promotion measures. Robust growth in arrivals was also seen from Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Thailand, Germany, the US and the UK. Moreover, visitor arrivals from China posted growth for the first time since May 2008.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.