Renewed Consolidation Anticipated For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 115 points or 3.5 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,180-point plateau although it's likely to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on continued concerns over the health of financial institutions. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and industrials, while the properties and REITs were mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 27.74 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 3,183.28 after trading between 3,162.35 and 3,185.25,

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust improved 1.04 percent, CapitaLand Investment surged 2.59 percent, City Developments climbed 1.12 percent, Comfort DelGro increased 0.86 percent, Emperador tumbled 1.92 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 0.95 percent, Hongkong Land slumped 0.95 percent, Keppel Corp strengthened 1.50 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Singapore Technologies Engineering both added 0.58 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.42 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.91 percent, SATS soared 2.37 percent, SembCorp Industries and Keppel DC REIT both gained 0.49 percent, SingTel rallied 1.68 percent, Thai Beverage jumped 1.60 percent, United Overseas Bank accelerated 1.93 percent, Wilmar International spiked 2.21 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Mapletree Logistics Trust and DBS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and pretty much stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 384.62 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 31,861.98, while the NASDAQ slumped 86.79 points or 0.74 percent to close at 11,630.51 and the S&P 500 dropped 43.64 points or 1.10 percent to end at 3,916.64. For the week, the NASDAQ soared 4.4 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent and the Dow eased 0.2 percent.

The pullback on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on Thursday's rally amid lingering concerns about turmoil in the financial sector.

Traders also looked ahead to Wednesday's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. CME Group's FedWatch tool currently indicates a 43.2 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged and a 56.8 percent chance of a 25 basis point rate hike.

In economic news, the Fed said U.S. industrial production was unexpectedly unchanged in February. Also, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell for the first time in four months in March.

Crude oil prices sank Friday as rising concerns about the health of the banking sector continued to fuel worries about economic growth and the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April dropped $1.61 or 2.4 percent at $66.74 a barrel. WTI crude futures tumbled 13 percent in the week.