Singapore Shares Tipped To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 15 points or 0.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,160-point plateau and it's expected to see little movement again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of earnings news and a FOMC rate decision and statement later this week. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the properties and industrials.

For the day, the index added 11.89 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 3,159.53 after trading between 3,148.67 and 3,179.24.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT sank 0.69 percent, while City Developments eased 0.16 percent, DBS Group collected 0.56 percent, Genting Singapore surged 3.59 percent, Keppel DC REIT plunged 2.22 percent, Keppel Ltd fell 0.29 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust retreated 1.40 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.41 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 0.62 percent, Seatrium Limited slumped 0.95 percent, SembCorp Industries dropped 0.73 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering tumbled 1.55 percent, Wilmar International rallied 1.20 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding advanced 0.60 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Hongkong Land, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Investment, SingTel, Thai Beverage, Comfort DelGro, Emperador and SATS were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday, surged midday but plummeted late in the section to end mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 60.33 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 38,109.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 55.14 points or 0.36 percent to close at 15,455.36 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.19 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,890.97. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1 percent, the NASDAQ advanced 0.9 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders weighed disappointing earnings news from semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) against tamer than expected consumer price inflation data.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth in December.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcement this week. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the timing of highly anticipated rate cuts.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday amid optimism about the outlook for oil demand thanks to upbeat U.S. economic data and the Chinese central bank's fresh stimulus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March added $0.65 or 0.84 percent at $78.01 a barrel. WTI crude futures spiked 6 percent for the week.