Additional Upside Seen For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing almost 40 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,845-point plateau and it's likely to open to the upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over economic data and easing tariff concerns. The European and U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets also figure to open to the upside.

The STI finished modestly higher again on Friday following gains from the financial shares and industrial issues, while the property sector was mixed.

For the day, the index added 12.63 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 3,845.14 after trading between 3,831.04 and 3,850.02.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment plummeted 8.00 percent, while City Developments plunged 2.21 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.65 percent, DBS Group gained 0.59 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 1.98 percent, Genting Singapore stumbled 2.03 percent, Hongkong Land improved 0.41 percent, Keppel DC REIT rallied 1.39 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.61 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.12 percent, SATS climbed 0.71 percent, Seatrium Limited spiked 1.57 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slumped 0.81 percent, SingTel rose 0.53 percent, Thai Beverage jumped 1.00 percent, Venture Corporation retreated 1.21 percent, Wilmar International increased 0.33 percent, Yangzijiang Financial collected 0.70 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding strengthened 0.90 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Frasers Centrepoint Trust and SembCorp Industries were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday and remained solidly in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 564.47 points or 1.39 percent to finish at 41,317.43, while the NASDAQ rallied 266.99 points or 1.51 percent to close at 17,977.73 and the S&P 500 spiked 82.53 points or 1.47 percent to end at 5,686.67.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ soared 3.4 percent, while the Dow jumped 3.0 percent and the S&P improved 2.9 percent.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing U.S. job growth far exceeded economist estimates in the month of April.

Buying interest was also generated in reaction to indications China is open to trade talks with the U.S., with a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce saying U.S. officials have "repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate with China on tariffs."

Crude oil showed a significant move back to the downside on Friday on concerns that OPEC would accelerate production, which did indeed happen over the weekend. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery tumbled $0.95 or 1.6 percent to $58.29 a barrel. Crude plunged 7.5 percent for the week.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide March numbers for retail sales later today; in February, sales were up 3.0 percent on month and down 3.6 percent on year.