The Singapore stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, slumping more than 55 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,580-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with many of the overbought regional bourses likely to see profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the properties and mixed performances from the financial shares and industrial issues.

For the day, the index skidded 40.04 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 3,582.70 after trading between 3,573.49 and 3,621.06.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 0.47 percent, while CapitaLand Investment declined 1.33 percent, City Developments stumbled 1.30 percent, DBS Group skidded 1.18 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 4.43 percent, Emperador rallied 1.15 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 1.90 percent, Keppel DC REIT lost 0.45 percent, Keppel Ltd fell 0.30 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust advanced 0.68 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust tumbled 1.61 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation retreated 1.48 percent, SATS sank 0.56 percent, Seatrium Limited added 0.57 percent, SembCorp Industries gained 0.37 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dropped 1.08 percent, SingTel slumped 1.20 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.32 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tanked 1.87 percent and Genting Singapore, Comfort DelGro, Thai Beverage and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but trended lower throughout the session, finally ending mostly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 293.47 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 41,914.75, while the NASDAQ perked 7.68 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,082.21 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.67 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,722.26.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength, which has lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales pulled back sharply in the month of August.

Data on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal income and spending are due later this week, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech later today is also in focus.

Oil prices fell sharply Wednesday on uncertainty about the outlook for demand and easing concerns over supply disruptions in Libya. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.87 or 2.6 percent at $69.69 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide August figures for industrial production later today; in July, production was up 10.1 percent on month and 1.8 percent on year. — RTT News