Singapore Shares May Break Through 3,200-Point Barrier

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had risen more than a dozen points or 0.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,180-point plateau and it's expected to see further upside on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following strong U.S. employment data, even though it dims the possibility of an interest rate hike next month. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks, REITS and industrials.

For the day, the index advanced 36.71 points or 1.17 percent to finish at 3,179.77 after trading between 3,153.98 and 3,191.16.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 1.06 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gathered 1.01 percent, CapitaLand Investment rallied 1.72 percent, City Developments soared 2.54 percent, Comfort DelGro moved up 0.71 percent, DBS Group gained1.23 percent, Emperador perked 0.99 percent, Hongkong Land advanced 1.28 percent, Keppel DC REIT climbed 1.42 percent, Keppel Ltd jumped 1.96 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust accelerated 2.10 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust spiked 2.50 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust was up 0.66 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 1.25 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 2.65 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering strengthened 1.60 percent, SingTel added 1.24 percent, Wilmar International improved 1.52 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.79 percent and SATS, Seatrium Limited, Thai Beverage, Yangzijiang Financial, Genting Singapore and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but consistently trended upward and finished well into the green, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 134.62 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 38,654.42, while the NASDAQ surged 267.35 points or 1.74 percent to end at 15,628.95 and the S&P 500 jumped 52.42 points or 1.07 percent to close at 4,958.61. For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 1.1 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both jumped 1.4 percent.

The extended rally on Wall Street came amid a positive reaction to earnings news from Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN).

Traders were also reacting to the closely watched report from the Labor Department showing much stronger than expected job growth in January.

The data further reduces the chances of an interest rate cut in March, but a strong jobs market is viewed as a good thing for the stock market and the economy.

Oil prices fell sharply on Friday as hopes of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded after data showed a bigger than expected increase in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in January. The dollar's sharp uptick after the jobs data also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $1.54 or about 2.1 percent at $72.28 a barrel. The contract shed more than 7 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide December data for retail sales later today; in November, sales were up 0.5 percent on month and 2.5 percent on year.