Singapore Stock Market Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 30 points or 1 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,180-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of this week's FOMC rate decision, while disappointing earnings news may weigh on tech sectors. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and industrial issues, while the properties were mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 29.04 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 3,181.34 after trading between 3,162.96 and 3,186.57. Volume was 1.3 billion shares worth 912.5 million Singapore dollars. There were 262 gainers and 153 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT strengthened 1.39 percent, while CapitaLand Investment advanced 0.79 percent, City Developments dipped 0.13 percent, Comfort DelGro gained 0.70 percent, DBS Group accelerated 1.92 percent, Genting Singapore surged 4.52 percent, Keppel Corp added 0.77 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust spiked 2.22 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust improved 1.15 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust rallied 1.75 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.88 percent, SATS and SingTel both sank 0.75 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.67 percent, Singapore Exchange eased 0.10 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering jumped 1.49 percent, United Overseas Bank climbed 1.33 percent, Wilmar International fell 0.25 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding soared 2.23 percent and Hongkong Land, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages were unable to held early gains on Friday, quickly slipping into the red and finishing near session lows.

The Dow shed 137.61 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 31,899.29, while the NASDAQ tumbled 225.50 points or 1.87 percent to end at 11,834.11 and the S&P 500 slumped 37.32 points or 0.93 percent to close at 3,961.63.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.3 percent, the S&P jumped 2.5 percent and the Dow climbed 2.0 percent.

The pullback on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to this week's highly anticipated monetary policy decision by the Federal Reserve. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by at least 75 basis points as part of its ongoing efforts to combat elevated inflation.

A steep drop by shares of Snap Inc. (SNAP) weighed on the tech-heavy NASDAQ after the company reported disappointing second quarter results and declined to provide guidance. Social media giant Twitter (TWTR) also reported second quarter results that missed estimates.

Crude oil futures settled sharply lower on Friday as prices fell on concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $1.65 or 1.7 percent at $94.70 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release June figures for consumer prices later today. Overall inflation is expected to rose 6.2 percent on year, accelerating from 5.6 percent in May. Core CPI is called higher by an annual 4.2 percent, up from 3.6 percent in the previous month.