To The Moon

The Singapore stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, stumbling almost 150 points or 4.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,115-point plateau and it's expected to extend those losses on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asianmarketsis brutal on growing fears of a recession and rising interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished barely lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index dipped 1.23 points or 0.04 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,115.08 after peaking at 3,155.35. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 1.9 billion Singapore dollars. There were 292 decliners and 235 gainers.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tumbled 1.05 percent, while CapitaLand Investment added 0.30 percent, City Developments sank 0.39 percent, DBS Group advanced 1.14 percent, Emperador declined 1.00 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 1.55 percent, Keppel Corp soared 2.51 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 0.58 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust retreated 0.84 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust slumped 0.64 percent, SATS plummeted 20.67 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.32 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dropped 0.57 percent, SingTel jumped 1.91 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.11 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.26 percent, Yangzijiang Financial strengthened 1.35 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plunged 1.92 percent and Genting Singapore, Ascendas REIT, Thai Beverage, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained deeply in the red, although they closed off of sessions lows.

The Dow tumbled 458.13 points or 1.54 percent to finish at 29,225.61, while the NASDAQ plunged 314.13 points or 2.84 percent to close at 10,737.51 and the S&P 500 dropped 78.57 points or 2.11 percent to end at 3,640.47.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street came as traders cashed in on Wednesday's gains, as the buying interest generated by the Bank of England's bond market intervention quickly evaporated. The moves by the BoE contributed to a pullback by bond yields and the U.S. dollar, inspiring traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels. But bond yields moved back to the upside, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note partly offsetting Wednesday's 25.9 basis point plunge.

A Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly fell to a five-month low last week also weighed on the markets. While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, traders may view the data as giving the Federal Reserve confidence that it can continue to aggressively raise interest rates.

Adding to the negative sentiment on Wall Street, data from Freddie Mac showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.70 percent in the week ending September 29th, up from 6.29 percent the week before.

Crude oil prices fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Thursday before closing lower on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amidst a possible global recession. West Texas Intermediate for November delivery slid $0.92 or 1.1 percent to $81.23 per barrel.