Singapore Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, adding almost 145 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,410-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as the U.S. government shutdown continues. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index added 16.74 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 4,411.95 after trading between 4,371.44 and 4,416.90.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT strengthened 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 0.42 percent, City Developments soared 2.43 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.68 percent, DBS Group perked 0.04 percent, DFI Retail Group rose 0.30 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.68 percent, Hongkong Land gathered 0.15 percent, Keppel Ltd increased 0.33 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 0.69 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust improved 0.47 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation added 0.42 percent, SATS jumped 0.86 percent, Seatrium Limited gained 0.41 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 2.30 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering skidded 1.02 percent, SingTel rallied 1.19 percent, Thai Beverage surged 3.23 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.51 percent, UOL Group was up 0.13 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.35 percent, Yangzijiang Financial accelerated 1.68 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Keppel DC REIT, CapitaLand Investment, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Friday but went off in different directions to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 238.58 points or 0.51 percent to finish at a record 46,758.28, while the NASDAQ sank 63.59 points or 0.28 percent to end at 22,780.51 and the S&P 500 perked 0.44 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,715.79, also a record. For the week, the NASDAQ rallied 1.3 percent, while the Dow and the S&P both rose 1.1 percent.

The NASDAQ sank on weakness from technology shares such as Palantir (PLTR), Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA).

The lackluster performance by the broader markets came as the ongoing U.S. government shutdown has led to the indefinite delay of key U.S. economic data, including Friday's closely watched monthly jobs report.

However, weak data from non-government sources has increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the coming months.

Crude oil prices advanced on Friday amid U.S. dollar weakness as the government shutdown persisted. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.41 or 0.68 percent at $60.89 per barrel.