The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 85 points or 2.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,490-point plateau, although it may tick higher again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, thanks to a rebound by U.S. treasuries and a bump in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were little changed and the Asian markets are tipped to follow that lead.
The STI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials, plantations, properties and industrials.
For the day, the index lost 27.77 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 3,488.46 after trading between 3,482.41 and 3,506.24. Volume was 1.8 billion shares worth 1.7 billion Singapore dollars. There were 331 decliners and 121 gainers.
Among the actives, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 4.00 percent, while SembCorp Industries plunged 3.54 percent, CapitaLand Commercial Trust tumbled 3.43 percent, Keppel Corp skidded 2.21 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 1.98 percent, DBS Group shed 1.53 percent, City Developments lost 1.49 percent, Hutchison Port Holdings jumped 1.41 percent, CapitaLand slid 1.39 percent, Wilmar International dipped 1.30 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.77 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 0.77 percent, Thai Beverage gave away 0.60 percent, SingTel fell 0.59 percent, United Overseas Bank lost 0.29 percent and Golden Agri-Resources and Singapore Technologies Engineering were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks were firm for most of Thursday's trade before turning mixed in the afternoon.
The Dow jumped 164.70 points or 0.66 percent to 24,962.48, while the NASDAQ fell 8.14 points or 0.11 percent to 7,210.09 and S&P 500 added 2.63 points or 0.10 percent at 2,703.96.
The strength in morning trading followed a bounce by treasuries, which came under pressure after the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.
In economic news, the Labor Department noted a fall in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended February 17. A separate report from the Conference Board showed a bigger than expected increase by its index of leading economic indicators in January.
Crude oil futures rallied Thursday after the government reported a drop in U.S. oil stockpiles in contrast to Wednesday's industry data. WTI light sweet oil was up 93 cents at $62.61 a barrel, supported by upbeat U.S. economic data and dovish talk from the European Central Bank.
Closer to home, Singapore will release January numbers for consumer prices later today; in December, CPI was down 0.1 percent on month and up 0.4 percent on year.
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