Singapore Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, advancing more than 90 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Straits Time Index now sits just above the 3,930-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on lingering concerns over tariffs and the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets both were slightly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials and trusts, weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the industrials.

For the day, the index gained 22.18 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 3,930.49 after trading 3,906.01 and 3,941.98

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added 0.48 percent, while CapitaLand Investment jumped 1.14 percent, City Developments fell 0.20 percent, Comfort DelGro rallied 1.40 percent, DBS Group collected 0.44 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 4.29 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.48 percent, Keppel DC REIT improved 0.46 percent, Keppel Ltd accelerated 2.06 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust climbed 0.97 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust spiked 2.33 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation advanced 0.83 percent, SATS shed 0.33 percent, Seatrium Limited gained 0.47 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 2.60 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering surged 5.18 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 0.96 percent, UOL Group sank 0.34 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.30 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding dropped 0.85 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, SingTel and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, slipping slightly under water by the close.

The Dow shed 11.31 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 41,953.32m while the NASDAQ lost 59.16 points or 0.33 percent to close at 17,691.16 and the S&P 500 fell 12.40 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,662.89.

The modestly lower close on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the economic outlook following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged, but forecasts suggest officials still expect to resume cutting rates later this year.

However, the Fed officials also lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after the U.S. slapped fresh sanctions on Iran. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.10 or about 1.6 percent at $68.26 a barrel on the expiration day.