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 added more than 15 points or 0.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,560-point plateau although it may see a mild rebound on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets flat to higher following a small gain in crude oil prices. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher - and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financials and properties.
For the day, the index slid 7.71 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 3,562.46 after trading between 3,550.78 and 3,574.21. Volume was 1.5 billion shares worth 1 billion Singapore dollars. There were 225 gainers and 224 decliners.
Among the actives, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 1.68 percent, while Genting Singapore surged 1.56 percent, Hutchison Port Holdings tumbled 1.45 percent, Golden Agri-Resources skidded 1.37 percent, CapitaLand dropped 1.09 percent, DBS Group and SingTel both shed 0.85 percent, Thai Beverage lost 0.62 percent, CapitaLand Commercial Trust added 0.56 percent, Comfort DelGro gained 0.43 percent, Wilmar International picked up 0.32 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.15 percent and SembCorp Industries, Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Mall Trust and Hongkong Land all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as stocks opened higher Monday. They gave ground in the afternoon but still finished in the green.
The Dow rose 68.24 points or 0.27 percent to 24,889.41, while the NASDAQ inched up 8.43 points or 0.11 percent at 7,411.32 and the S&P 500 added 2.41 points or 0.09 percent to 2,730.13.
The early strength on Wall Street came amid easing trade tensions ahead of a second round of trade talks between the U.S. and China this week.
Ahead of the meeting, President Donald Trump indicated that he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to get Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. "back into business, fast."
Crude oil prices were slightly higher Monday, edging back toward last week's four-year peak as OPEC predicted strong demand from crude oil for the next year. June WTI oil gained 26 cents or 0.4 percent to settle at $70.96/bbl.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com