Singapore Stock Market May Reclaim 5,100-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, improving almost 25 points or 0.5 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 5,070-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopes for an end to the U.S.-Iran war. The European and U.S. markets were up 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 22.44 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 5,068.15 after trading between 5,039.79 and 5,072.00.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT gathered 0.40 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dropped 0.87 percent, CapitaLand Investment sank 0.76 percent, City Developments was up 0.25 percent, DBS Group increased 0.57 percent, DFI Retail Group jumped 1.20 percent, Hongkong Land picked up 0.13 percent, Keppel Ltd surged 4.70 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust advanced 0.79 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.52 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation climbed 0.86 percent, SATS vaulted 0.92 percent, Seatrium Limited rose 0.45 percent, SembCorp Industries improved 0.65 percent, Singapore Airlines gained 0.46 percent, Singapore Exchange perked 0.09 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 1.44 percent, SingTel tumbled 2.34 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 1.08 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.03 percent, UOL Group eased 0.10 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.55 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding soared 2.16 percent and Genting Singapore, Keppel DC REIT, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained modestly in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow climbed 294.00 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 50,579.70, while the NASDAQ rose 50.87 points or 0.19 percent to close at 26,343.97 and the S&P 500 added 27.75 points or 0.37 percent to end at 7,473.47.

For the week, the Dow surged 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ increased by 0.5 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came amid persistent optimism about an end to the U.S.-Iran war even as crude oil and gasoline prices remained elevated going into the busy Memorial Day weekend.

In economic news, a report from the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated much more than previously estimated in the month of May.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday as traders weighed concerns of an impending crude oil inventory shortage against the positive signals from U.S.-Iran peace talks. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $0.10 or 0.10 percent at $96.45 per barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will on Monday release Q1 figures for gross domestic product; in the previous three months, GDP was up 4.6 percent on year. Singapore also will see April numbers for consumer prices; in March, overall inflation was up 0.5 percent on month and 1.8 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 1.7 percent.