Singapore Bourse May Remain Rangebound On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, collecting almost 20 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,215-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat on ongoing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and REITs, weakness from the industrials and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index added 10.42 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 3,217.41 after trading between 3,212.53 and 3,228.67.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rallied 1.48 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 1.09 percent, CapitaLand Investment surged 2.65 percent, City Developments increased 0.92 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.78 percent, DBS Group gained 0.42 percent, Emperador tumbled 1.92 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.17 percent, Hongkong Land declined 1.11 percent, Keppel Corp lost 0.29 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust spiked 2.14 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust climbed 1,35 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust improved 1.20 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.08 percent, SATS jumped 1.56 percent, Seatrium Limited soared 2.29 percent, SembCorp Industries dropped 0.39 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering perked 0.26 percent, SingTel rose 0.41 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 0.86 percent, Wilmar International gathered 0.27 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.60 percent and Yangzijiang Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Friday but faded into the red as the day progressed, although the NASDAQ managed to peek back up into the green by the close.

The Dow shed 158.80 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 33,507.50, while the NASDAQ rose 18.02 points or 0.14 percent to close at 13,219.32 and the S&P 500 fell 11.65 points or 0.27 percent to end at 4,288.05.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on concerns over the prospect of a government shutdown, although that was avoided at the last minute.

The outlook for interest rates also rendered the mood cautious, prompting investors to lighten commitments.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal income in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in August. Also, core CPI slowed in August and overall inflation ticked slightly higher - both in line with forecasts.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday, with a bit of profit taking and uncertainty about the outlook for energy demand weighing on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $0.92 or 1 percent at $90.79 a barrel. WTI crude futures added 0.8 percent in the week and 8.5 percent in September.