Profit Taking Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, collecting more than 70 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,280-point plateau although it's due for correction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, with weakness expected from the technology and oil sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index added 13.02 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 3,282.88 after trading between 3,268.47 and 3,285.29. Volume was 1.62 billion shares worth 1.07 billion Singapore dollars. There were 281 gainers and 185 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT dropped 0.66 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 2.74 percent, CapitaLand Investment retreated 1.24 percent, City Developments rallied 0.87 percent, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Logistics both added 0.70 percent, DBS Group accelerated 1.33 percent, Hongkong Land gained 0.58 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.28 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.52 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust shed 0.37 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.25 percent, SATS jumped 1.00 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 1.99 percent, Singapore Exchange lost 0.30 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.24 percent, SingTel soared 2.33 percent, Thai Beverage climbed 0.77 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.11 percent, Wilmar International surged 4.12 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.25 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding improved 0.54 percent and Genting Singapore and Mapletree Logistics Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened deep in the red on Friday and recovered somewhat, although only the Dow peeked up into positive territory.

The Dow added 76.67 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 32,803.47, while the NASDAQ sank 63.04 points or 0.50 percent to end at 12,657.55 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.75 points or 0.16 percent to close at 4,145.19.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.2 percent, the S&P rose 0.4 percent and the Dow eased 0.1 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came as traders reacted to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report - which showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in July, leading to concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

While the data paints a positive picture of the labor market, the report may also give the Federal Reserve confidence they can continue aggressively raising interest rates without causing a recession.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, lifted by the strong jobs report, but still posted a weekly loss amid concerns about demand due to economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.47 or 0.5 percent at $89.01 a barrel.