Singapore Bourse May Extend Friday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market turned lower again on Friday. One day after ending the three-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 30 points or 0.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,800-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index dipped 2.31 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 3,804.26 after trading between 3,799.29 and 3,817.30,

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.52 percent, while Comfort DelGro dropped 0.71 percent, DBS Group sank 0.68 percent, DFI Retail Group jumped 1.79 percent, Genting Singapore strengthened 1.36 percent, Hongkong Land advanced 0.95 percent, Keppel DC REIT soared 2.25 percent, Keppel Ltd rallied 1.64 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 0.84 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.45 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.12 percent, SATS stumbled 2.27 percent, Seatrium Limited spiked 1.80 percent, SembCorp Industries shed 0.54 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.63 percent, SingTel surged 2.89 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 0.92 percent, Yangzijiang Financial climbed 1.12 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell 0.33 percent and CapitaLand Investment, City Developments, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Emperador, Wilmar International, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Jardine Cycle were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened barely higher on Friday but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the session in the red.

The Dow stumbled 140.85 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 44,424.25, while the NASDAQ sank 99.40 points or 0.50 percent to close at 19,954.30 and the S&P 500 fell 17.47 points or 0.29 percent to end at 6,101.24. For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow surged 2.2 percent and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 both jumped 1.7 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week.

Recent economic data has led to concerns about the Fed leaving rates on hold for a prolonged period, but many economists still expect the central bank to resume cutting rates sometime in the first half of the year.

On U.S. economic front, data from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated by more than estimated in January. Also, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales jumped much more than expected in December

Oil futures were roughly flat on Friday, continuing to look for support after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell less than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $74.66 a barrel to snap a six-day losing streak. WTI crude futures lost 3 percent in the week.