Renewed Support Anticipated For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,205-point plateau although it figures to rebound on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to better than expected inflation data. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the properties and trusts, gains from the industrials and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index eased 1.37 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,205.91 after trading between 3,204.78 and 3,222.00.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment gained 0.30 percent, while City Developments stumbled 1.03 percent, Comfort DelGro plummeted 3.33 percent, DBS Group eased 0.03 percent, Genting Singapore added 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land tumbled 1.76 percent, Keppel Corp advanced 0.60 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.61 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust slumped 0.90 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust retreated 1.22 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.24 percent, SATS and UOL both dropped 0.77 percent, Seatrium Limited and SingTel both skidded 0.79 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 3.79 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rallied 1.10 percent, Thai Beverage jumped 1.75 percent, Wilmar International declined 1.30 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 4.17 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Emperador and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the day, closing near session highs.

The Dow jumped 285.20 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 34,407.60, while the NASDAQ rallied 196.62 points or 1.45 percent to end at 13,787.92 and the S&P 500 climbed 53.94 points or 1.23 percent to close at 4,450.38.

For the week, the S&P 500 spiked 2.4 percent, the NASDAQ shot up 2.2 percent and the Dow leapt 2.0 percent. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 also posted substantial gains for the first half of 2023.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth in May.

While economists generally still expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by another quarter point this month, the data added to optimism the central bank will not follow through with additional rate hikes.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains, as a drop in U.S. crude inventories continued to support the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.78 or 1.1 percent at $70.64 a barrel. However, WTI Crude futures shed about 12 percent in H1 and more than 6 percent in Q2.