Singapore Shares Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market moved higher again on Friday, one day after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it had risen almost 60 points or 1.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,930-point plateau although it's likely looking at a soft start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished barely higher on Friday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the industrials and properties.

For the day, the index rose 2.43 percent or 0.06 percent to finish at 3,929.94 after trading between 3,918.43 and 3,940.15.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.52 percent, while CapitaLand Investment added 0.41 percent, City Developments shed 0.40 percent, Comfort DelGro declined 1.45 percent, DBS Group rallied 1.17 percent, Emperador plummeted 9.38 percent, Genting Singapore stumbled 3.23 percent, Hongkong Land soared 2.73 percent, Keppel DC REIT spiked 1.90 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.85 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.50 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.06 percent, SATS rose 0.30 percent, Seatrium Limited plunged 4.80 percent, SembCorp Industries surged 3.79 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.39 percent, SingTel tumbled 2.67 percent, UOL Group dropped 0.59 percent, Wilmar International tanked 4.05 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding retreated 2.42 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Thai Beverage, Keppel Ltd, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened slightly lower on Friday but headed steadily lower throughout the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow plummeted 748.63 points or 1.69 percent to finish at 43,428.02, while the NASDAQ stumbled 438.36 points or 2.20 percent to close at 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 sank 104.39 points or 1.71 percent to 6,013.13. For the week, the Dow and the NASDAQ both dropped 2.5 percent, while the S&P tumbled 1.8 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than expected in February.

The substantial deterioration by consumer sentiment came amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations, which spiked to 4.3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since November 2023.

Oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil's decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Singapore will see January figures for consumer prices later today. Overall inflation is expected to climb 2.2 percent on year, up from 1.6 percent in December. Core CPI is seen higher by an annual 1.5 percent, easing from 1.8 percent in the previous month.