Singapore Bourse May Add To Friday's Winnings

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 10 points or 0.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,270-point plateau and it's expected to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian market is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and property stocks, while the industrials were mixed and the trusts were soft.

For the day, the index picked up 25.97 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 3,293.75 after trading between 3,273.67 and 3,298.08.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT eased 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added 0.50 percent, City Developments surged 2.33 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.85 percent, DBS Group perked 0.93 percent, Emperador retreated 1.01 percent, Genting Singapore gathered 1.00 percent, Hongkong Land improved 1.03 percent, Keppel Corp rallied 1.26 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust fell 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust lost 0.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.64 percent, SATS gained 0.35 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 1.48 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering advanced 0.88 percent, SingTel climbed 1.21 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 1.40 percent, United Overseas Bank soared 2,04 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.24 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.80 percent and CapitaLand Investment and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages shook off early weakness on Friday, climbing into the green for good by the afternoon.

The Dow gained 112.61 points of 0.33 percent to finish at 34,302.61, while the NASDAQ jumped 78.06 points or 0.71 percent to end at 11,079.16 and the S&P 500 rose 15.92 points or 0.40 percent to close at 3,999.09.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 4.8 percent, the S&P gained 2.7 percent and the Dow rose 2.0 percent.

The initial weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on some the recent strength in the markets amid a negative reaction to earnings news from several big-name financial companies.

The recovery came as upbeat consumer sentiment and inflation expectations data helped offset the early negative sentiment.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday on optimism for less aggressive rate hikes in the United States after inflation slowed in December. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February ended higher by $1.47 or 1.9 percent at $79.86 a barrel.