Higher Open Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 25 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,900-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlooks for tariffs and trade. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the trusts, weakness from the industrials and mixed performances from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index rose 5.93 points or 0.15 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,897.87 after trading as low as 3,878.81.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation both collected 0.49 percent, CapitaLand Investment gained 0.39 percent, City Developments sank 0.83 percent, Comfort DelGro and SATS both added 0.67 percent, DBS Group stumbled 1.11 percent, Hongkong Land advanced 0.78 percent, Keppel Ltd fell 0.29 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 0.83 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rallied 1.03 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust strengthened 0.91 percent, Seatrium Limited dropped 0.96 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 1.54 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering accelerated 1.09 percent, SingTel spiked 1.33 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 1.04 percent, Wilmar International jumped 0.98 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 2.01 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding lost 0.45 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Keppel DC REIT and DFI Retail Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off a soft start on Friday and continued to trend higher throughout the day, ending at session highs.

The Dow rallied 331.94 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 42,654.74, while the NASDAQ added 98.80 points or 0.52 percent to close at 19,211.10 and the S&P 500 gained 41.45 points or 0.70 percent to end at 5,958.38.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 7.2 percent, the S&P spiked 5.3 percent and the Dow soared 3.4 percent.

News of the U.S.-China trade deal generated considerable buying interest that carried over for much of the week. While uncertainty remains about the U.S. and its trade partners reaching deals that permanently lower tariffs, traders have continued to express optimism.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off data from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has unexpectedly continued to deteriorate in the month of May.

Crude oil futures showed a strong move to the upside on Friday amid optimism about U.S. trade policies. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped $0.87 or 1.4 percent to $62.49 a barrel. For the week, the price of crude oil surged 2.4 percent.