Little Movement Expected For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday snapped the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 70 points or 2.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,155-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index rose 7.71 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 3,155.10 after trading between 3,145.66 and 3,174.99.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT perked 0.38 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.56 percent, City Developments spiked 1.56 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.78 percent, DBS Group improved 0.15 percent, Emperador rallied 0.99 percent, Genting Singapore declined 1.20 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.02 percent, Keppel Corp was up 0.31 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust gained 0.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.79 percent, Seatrium Limited slumped 0.79 percent, SembCorp Industries gathered 0.41 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.52 percent, SingTel climbed 0.85 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 1.82 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.83 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding retreated 1.26 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, CapitaLand Investment, SATS and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, tumbled and then rebounded but still ended slightly under water.

The Dow dipped 9.98 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,119.57, while the NASDAQ fell 16.18 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,219.83 and the S&P 500 eased 5.56 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,258.19.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as traders remained worried about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of closely watched employment data later today.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, with a continue pullback by treasuries inspiring some traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels.

Ahead of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department reported a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday amid uncertainty about the outlook for demand and due to disappointment over OPEC's decision to not increase the size of production cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.91 or 2.3 percent at $82.31 a barrel.