Little Movement Anticipated For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 80 points or 2.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,275-point plateau and it's expected to be rangebound again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with earnings news possibly steering the markets. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished barely lower on Thursday as losses from the financials and trusts were offset by support from the industrials.

For the day, the index eased 0.86 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 3,274.38 after trading between 3,263.70 and 3,282.95.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT climbed 1.08 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and City Developments both improved 1.01 percent, CapitaLand Investment rallied 1.49 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.81 percent, DBS Group dropped 0.58 percent, Emperador slumped 0.97 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 1.06 percent, Hongkong Land gained 0.80 percent, Keppel Corp jumped 1.46 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust retreated 0.60 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust fell 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust rose 0.59 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.24 percent, SATS increased 0.75 percent, Seatrium Limited surged 3.52 percent, SembCorp Industries strengthened 1.26 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering perked 0.27 percent, SingTel gathered 0.39 percent, Thai Beverage declined 0.85 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.52 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 1.34 percent and Yangzijiang Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent and uninspiring as the major averages opened and closed mixed on Thursday; the Dow opened higher and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ and S&P opened lower and remained in the red throughout.

The Dow climbed 163.97 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 35,225.18, while the NASDAQ tumbled 294.71 points or 2.05 percent to close at 14,063.31 and the S&P 500 sank 30.85 points or 0.68 percent to end at 4,534.87.

The sharp pullback by the Nasdaq came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from companies like Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA). On the other hand, the narrower Dow benefitted from a spike from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) after solid earnings news.

Traders also reacted to a Labor Department report showing that first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly dipped last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday and lifted the August series futures contract to a positive close on the expiration day amid fears of declining supplies from Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August settled at $75.63 a barrel, gaining $0.28 or 0.4 percent.

Closer to home, Singapore will see Q2 results of the URA property index later today, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 0.4 percent on quarter following the 3.3 percent gain in the three months prior.