Win Streak May Continue For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, although it has risen just over 7 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,185-point plateau and it may see continued support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of this week's Federal Reserve's meeting. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished barely higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index rose 0.36 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 3,186.97 after trading between 3,179.03 and 3,191.11.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT added 0.38 percent, while CapitaLand Investment jumped 1.52 percent, City Developments shed 0.58 percent, DBS Group and Mapletree Logistics Trust both sank 0.61 percent, Emperador skidded 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore lost 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land retreated 1.18 percent, Keppel Corp climbed 0.94 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust stumbled 1.83 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and UOL Group both fell 0.46 percent, SATS spiked 2.02 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 3.01 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.27 percent, SingTel dropped 0.82 percent, Thai Beverage surged 3.60 percent, United Overseas Bank lost 0.49 percent, Yangzijiang Financial slumped 1.47 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 2.31 percent and Wilmar International, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Comfort DelGro and Keppel DC REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened firmly higher on Friday, slumped midday but ticked back into the green to end slightly higher.

The Dow added 43.18 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 33,876.78, while the NASDAQ rose 20.64 points or 0.16 percent to close at 13,259.14 and the S&P 500 perked 4.93 points or 0.11 percent to end at 4,298.86.

For the week, the S&P rose 0.4 percent, the Dow gained 0.3 percent and the NASDAQ perked 0.1 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

Thursday's report showing initial jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October 2021 last week added to the optimism about the Fed pausing its interest rate hikes.

Crude oil prices slumped again on Friday, extending losses from the previous session on concerns about the outlook for demand ahead of several key central bank meetings this week. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell $1.12 or 1.6 percent to $70.17 a barrel.