Mild Rebound Predicted For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Friday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 30 points or 0.9 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,125-point plateau although it may bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the properties, gains from the industrials and a mixed picture from the financials.

For the day, the index sank 8.38 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,124.67 after trading between 3,110.36 and 3,128.52.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT strengthened 1.45 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tumbled 1.06 percent, CapitaLand Investment skidded 0.64 percent, City Developments plunged 1.90 percent, DBS Group collected 0.15 percent, Emperador retreated 0.98 percent, Genting Singapore and Keppel DC REIT both dropped 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land plummeted 2.66 percent, Keppel Corp climbed 1.25 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gathered 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust gained 0.64 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.08 percent, SATS slumped 0.73 percent, Seatrium Limited declined 0.93 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.59 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering jumped 1.57 percent, SingTel was up 0.09 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.96 percent, Wilmar International perked 0.27 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.56 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.69 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower on Friday but broke into the green by midday and finished with mild gains.

The Dow rose 1.78 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 34,947.28, while the NASDAQ added 11.78 points or 0.08 percent to close at 14,125.48 and the S&P 500 gained 5.78 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,514.02.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.4 percent, the S&P jumped 2.2 percent and the Row rallied 1.9 percent.

Optimism about the outlook for interest rates has contributed to the recent advance, as the latest data has shown signs of easing inflation.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected increase in new residential construction and building permits in October.

Crude oil futures spiked on Friday, but the most active futures contract still posted its fourth straight weekly loss amid concerns about the outlook for near term energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December jumped $2.99 or 4.1 percent at $75.89 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 4 percent in the week.