The Singapore stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after snapping the six-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 200 points or 6.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,090-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, supported by bargain hunting and crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished slightly lower on Thursday as losses from the properties and industrials were mitigated by support from the financial sector.
For the day, the index slipped 6.14 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 3,092.11 after trading between 3,065.91 and 3,100.55. Volume was 1.16 billion shares worth 1.3 billion Singapore dollars. There were 296 decliners and 181 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT dropped 0.68 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tumbled 1.43 percent, City Developments plunged 1.74 percent, Comfort DelGro shed 0.72 percent, Dairy Farm International tanked 1.64 percent, DBS Group collected 0.54 percent, Genting Singapore plummeted 1.97 percent, Keppel Corp was down 0.39 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust surrendered 0.98 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and United Overseas Bank both were up 0.27 percent, SATS and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding both retreated 0.78 percent, SembCorp Industries gained 0.52 percent, Singapore Airlines rose 0.41 percent, Singapore Exchange added 0.67 percent, Singapore Press Holdings and Venture Corporation both fell 0.43 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.53 percent, SingTel declined 0.83 percent, Thai Beverage skidded 0.75 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.73 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and largely remained that way to finish with solid gains.
The Dow surged 617.75 points or 1.82 percent to finish at 34,639.70, while the NASDAQ advanced 127.27 points or 0.83 percent to close at 15,381.32 and the S&P 500 jumped 64.04 points or 1.42 percent to end at 4,577.10.
The rebound on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting following the steep drop on Wednesday, extending the rollercoaster ride stocks have been on since news of the detection of omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Traders have seemed extremely sensitive to omicron-related news amid concerns the variant could derail the economic recovery even as the Federal Reserve begins scaling back stimulus.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest rebound by initial jobless claims last week.
Crude oil prices rallied on Thursday after falling to a three-month low in the previous session, shaking off plans by OPEC to increase output. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery jumped $0.93 or 1.4 percent to $66.50 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will release October figures for retail sales later today; in September, sales were up 6.0 percent on month and 6.6 percent on year.