Singapore: STI slides for fourth consecutive day

The Straits Times Index extended its losing streak into a fourth consecutive session on Thursday, this time with a 4.99 points loss at 3,373.6. Since closing at 3,417 on Friday, the STI has now lost a total of 44 points or 1.3 per cent. On Thursday, it briefly entered negative territory for the year to date. For 2015 it is now up just 8 points.

Turnover was 1.3 billion units worth S$1 billion and excluding warrants there were 188 rises versus 228 falls. The main drag over the past four days has been US interest rate worries which have led to a wobbly market on Wall Street. The pressure there emerged after Friday's February jobs report was better than expected, prompting fears that the US Federal Reserve might raise rates sooner rather than later. However, there were hopes that since the STI rebounded off its intraday low, Wall Street would enjoy a firm Thursday.

Apart from weaker US stocks, US bond prices have been rising, sending yields down. On Wednesday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell from 2.4 to 2.1 per cent, its third consecutive fall. The same phenomenon is to be found in Europe, where bond yields in Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain are at record lows.