Singapore Bourse Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 30 points or 0.9 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,300-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation following uninspired data from the United States. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and mixed performances from the properties and industrials.

For the day, the index dropped 28.65 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 3,294.28 after trading between 3,279.71 and 3,319.99.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT retreated 1.43 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust declined 1.53 percent, CapitaLand Investment surrendered 1.55 percent, City Developments tumbled 1.86 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.39 percent, Genting Singapore surged 3.80 percent, Hongkong Land gained 0.55 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.21 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 1.26 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.89 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 1.19 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slumped 1.28 percent, Seatrium Limited slid 0.74 percent, SembCorp Industries added 0.68 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering climbed 1.07 percent, SingTel dropped 1.21 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.88 percent, Wilmar International fell 0.78 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding shed 1.18 percent and Comfort DelGro, Emperador, SATS, Yangzijiang Financial and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up mixed as the major averages opened lower on Friday and wound up on opposite sides of the unchanged line after a day of volatility.

The Dow gained 105.30 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 35,281.40, while the NASDAQ slumped 93.15 points or 0.68 percent to close at 13,644.85 and the S&P 500 fell 4.78 points or 0.11 percent to end at 4,464.05. For the week, the Dow added 0.6 percent, the NASDAQ tumbled 1.9 percent and the S&P eased 0.3 percent.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices climbed slightly more than expected in July.

While the larger than increase by the headline index led to renewed interest rate concerns among some investors, analysts noted the more important index excluding food, energy, and trade services rose in line with estimates.

A separate report released by the University of Michigan showed a slight pullback in consumer sentiment in August.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday after a report from the International Energy Agency forecast strong demand for oil and tightening supplies in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.37 at $83.19 a barrel.