Singapore Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, improving almost 75 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,580-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index jumped 65.62 points or 1.45 percent to finish at the daily high of 4,586.45 after trading as low as 4,553.09.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT advanced 1.46 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust received 0.43 percent, CapitaLand Investment climbed 1.54 percent, City Developments rallied 1.80 percent, DBS Group gained 1.20 percent, DFI Retail Group fell 0.25 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.69 percent, Hongkong Land surged 3.46 percent, Keppel DC REIT picked up 0.45 percent, Keppel Ltd accelerated 1.89 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 1.40 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust was up 0.50 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation increased 1.32 percent, SATS jumped 1.75 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 2.40 percent, SembCorp Industries strengthened 1.72 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering expanded 1.58 percent, SingTel spiked 2.19 percent, Thai Beverage gathered 1.06 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 1.28 percent, UOL Group added 1.31 percent, Wilmar International vaulted 1.66 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rose 1.15 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding perked 0.29 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the session underwater.

The Dow dropped 245.96 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 48,458.05, while the NASDAQ tumbled 398.69 points or 1.69 percent to close at 23,195.17 and the S&P 500 sank 73.59 points or 1.07 percent to end at 6,827.41.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.6 percent and the NASDAQ dove 1.6 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street was fueled by losses on the NASDAQ, which saw heavy selling among the technology stocks on renewed concerns over valuations.

Weak sentiment was also generated by comments from Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee, who explained his decision to vote against cutting interest rates at last week's Fed meeting saying that more inflation data should have been necessary.

Crude oil prices weakened on Friday as traders kept an eye on the latest developments in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell $0.20 or 0.4 percent at $57.40 per barrel.