Win Streak May Continue For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 30 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,740-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Monday.

The global forecast for Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected after some heavy selling last week. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index perked 2.04 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,739.29 after trading between 3,709.96 and 3,739.29.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust skidded 1.01 percent, while CapitaLand Investment lost 0.36 percent, DBS Group collected 0.43 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land advanced 0.66 percent, Keppel DC REIT tumbled 1.77 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.81 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.43 percent, SATS retreated 1.05 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 0.97 percent, SingTel jumped 1.64 percent, Thai Beverage climbed 0.89 percent, Wilmar International added 0.65 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding shed 0.41 percent and City Developments, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Emperador, Keppel Ltd, Seatrium Limited, Yangzijiang Financial and Singapore Technologies Engineering were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages returned from Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday by opening in the green on Friday and continuing to pick up steam as the shortened session progressed, ending near the day's highs.

The Dow jumped 188.59 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 44,910.65, while the NASDAQ rallied 157.69 points or 0.83 percent to close at 19,218.17 and the S&P 500 gained 33.64 points or 0.56 percent to end at 6,032.38.

For the holiday-interrupted week, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both jumped 1.1 percent, while the narrower Dow surged 1.4 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following pullback seen on Wednesday.

Semiconductor stocks led the rebound, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing by 1.5 percent after hitting its lowest intraday level in over two months in the previous session.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday after OPEC postponed its meeting to Dec. 5, despite expectations the group will delay production increases. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January shed $0.72 or 1.1 percent at $68.00 a barrel. WTI crude futures lost 4.5 percent in the week.