(RTTNews.com) – The Singapore stock market has closed deep in the red in two straight sessions, giving away almost 90 points or 2.9 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index finished just above the 3,280-point plateau, and now the market draws another lower open again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to the continued decline in the price of oil, as well as weak economic data from the United States. The European and U.S. markets were down, and the Asian bourses are expected to remain under pressure.

The STI finished sharply lower again on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and industrials, while the properties and plantations were mixed.

For the day, the index tumbled 46.33 points or 1.39 percent to finish at 3,281.95 after trading between 3,272.40 and 3,295.51. Volume was 1.36 billion shares worth 1.24 billion Singapore dollars. There were 286 decliners and 126 gainers, with 530 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Keppel Corp plummeted 4.26 percent, while DBS Group shed 1.05 percent, United Overseas Bank retreated 2.67 percent, Golden Agri-Resources jumped 1.12 percent, Wilmar International lost 1.24 percent, Hongkong Land spiked 1.63 percent, CapitaMall Trust dropped 1.46 percent and SembCorp tumbled 2.55 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be negative as stocks saw more downside on Tuesday, following Monday’s sell-off. The drop extended a recent downward trend, with the Dow and the S&P 500 pulling back further off their record highs.

The Dow dropped 130.01 points or 0.7 percent to 17,371.64, while the NASDAQ tumbled 59.84 points or 1.3 percent to 4,592.74 and the S&P 500 slid 17.97 points or 0.9 percent to 2,002.61.

The weakness was partly due to a continued decrease by the price of crude oil, which fell to a new five-year closing low of $ 47.93 a barrel.

The recent drop in prices has raised concerns about the economic impact of a slowdown by the oil and gas industry despite indications that falling gasoline prices will boost consumer spending.

Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing that activity in the U.S. service sector grew at a slower rate in December. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed a bigger than expected drop in factory orders in November.

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