Overbought Singapore Bourse Called Higher Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 100 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,370-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing inflation concerns and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, plantations and industrials, while the properties were soft.

For the day, the index climbed 33.75 points or 1.01 percent to finish at 3,371.17 after trading between 3,344.32 and 3,374.21.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT improved 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Investment stumbled 1.46 percent, City Developments sank 0.82 percent, Comfort DelGro retreated 1.59 percent, DBS Group spiked 1.48 percent, Emperador slumped 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore fell 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land lost 0.55 percent, Keppel Corp surged 3.45 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust shed 0.59 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust skidded 0.87 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.58 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.15 percent, SATS and DFI Retail both dropped 0.72 percent, Seatrium Limited tumbled 2.05 percent, SembCorp Industries increased 0.36 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering climbed 0.81 percent, SingTel gained 0.38 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.26 percent, Yangzijiang Financial declined 1.52 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding advanced 0.67 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 176.59 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 35,459.29, while the NASDAQ surged 266.56 points or 1.90 percent to end at 14,316.66 and the S&P 500 advanced 44.82 points or 0.99 percent to close at 4,582.23.

The strength on Wall Street was the result of encouraging earnings updates from top tech firms and data showing a slowdown in the annual rate of growth in consumer prices in June.

Easing worries about interest rates following the Federal Reserve hinting at a pause in hikes as early as September helped as well.

The slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth may ease concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Thursday's better-than-expected economic data.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday, and the most active futures contract posted gains for the fifth straight week amid easing U.S. recession fears and on optimism over increased demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for September added $0.49 or 0.6 percent at $80.58 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 4.6 percent in the week.