Singapore Stock Market Due For Support On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 60 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,260-point plateau, although it may finally stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting expected after selling and uncertainty earlier in the week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the industrial stocks, properties and financial.

For the day, the index slumped 35.11 points or 1.06 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,264.93 after peaking at 3,303.44.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.52 percent, while CapitaLand Investment stumbled 1.56 percent, City Developments slumped 1.38 percent, Comfort DelGro soared 2.59 percent, DBS Group skidded 0.92 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 2.77 percent, Keppel Corp plummeted 26.43 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust advanced 0.86 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation surrendered 2.02 percent, SATS surged 2.94 percent, SembCorp Industries tumbled 2.63 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.57 percent, SingTel dropped 0.82 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.77 percent, United Overseas Bank plunged 4.42 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.75 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.39 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding declined 1.48 percent and Emperador, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Ascendas REIT, Genting Singapore, Frasers Logistics and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up firm as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, slumped midday but rebounded to end firmly in the green.

The Dow climbed 108.82 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 33,153.91, while the NASDAQ jumped 83.33 points or 0.72 percent to close at 11,590.40 and the S&P 500 rose 21.27 points or 0.53 percent to end at 4,012.32.

Buying interest remained somewhat subdued as interest rate concerns continued to hang over the markets following Wednesday's release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

The Fed minutes offered few surprised but reiterated that the central bank will continue to raise interest rates in its battle against inflation.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, while the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew by slightly less than estimated Q4 of 2022.

After trending lower in recent sessions, the price of crude oil showed a strong move back to the upside on Thursday, despite a bigger than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery spiked $1.44 or 2.0 percent to $75.39 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will see January numbers for industrial production later today, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 0.1 percent on month and an increase of 2.9 percent on year. That follows the 3.2 percent monthly increase and the 3.1 percent yearly decline in December.