Soft Start Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 25 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,315-point plateau although it may open under pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with profit taking likely to cap any upside. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index improved 8.49 points or 0.26 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,313.48 after moving as low as 3,292.13.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust skidded 1.01 percent, while CapitaLand Investment added 0.38 percent, City Developments retreated 1.53 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.71 percent, DBS Group collected 0.42 percent, Genting Singapore sank 0.55 percent, Hongkong Land gained 0.29 percent, Keppel DC REIT increased 0.56 percent, Keppel Ltd advanced 0.45 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.57 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Frasers Centrepoint both lost 0.45 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust climbed 0.74 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 0.98 percent, SATS declined 1.16 percent, Seatrium Limited plunged 2.48 percent, SembCorp Industries improved 0.57 percent, SingTel fell 0.41 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.56 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slumped 1.13 percent and Emperador, Thai Beverage, Wilmar International and Singapore Technologies Engineering were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and fairly flat and finished much the same.

The Dow climbed 134.19 points or 0.34 percent to finish at a record 40,003.59, while the NASDAQ slipped 12.33 points or 0.07 percent to close at 16,685.97 and the S&P 500 rose 6.17 points or 0.12 percent to end at 5,303.27.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.1 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped 1.5 percent and the Dow shot up 1.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they digest recent strength in the markets, which saw the major averages reach new record highs.

In economic news, the Conference Board noted a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of April.

Oil prices rose on Friday amid easing inflation, data showing a drop in inventories, and hopes of interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June climbed to $80.06 a barrel, gaining $0.79 or more than 1 percent. WTI crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.