Singapore Bourse May See Profit Taking On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 70 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,260-point plateau although investors may cash in on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with strength from crude oil prices offset by likely profit taking. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financials were capped by weakness from the industrials and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index gained 17.18 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 3,260.03 after trading between 3,246.27 and 3,277.51.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT improved 1.10 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust increased 1.01 percent, CapitaLand Investment rallied 1.47 percent, City Developments soared 1.85 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.89 percent, DBS Group collected 0.58 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 1.04 percent, Hongkong Land lost 0.49 percent, Keppel Corp fell 0.43 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 1.18 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rose 0.45 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation strengthened 1.36 percent, SATS surged 5.79 percent, SembCorp Industries tumbled 1.73 percent, SingTel gathered 0.79 percent, Thai Beverage gained 0.87 percent, United Overseas Bank was up 0.14 percent, Wilmar International perked 0.25 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.49 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.76 percent and Emperador, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Singapore Technologies Engineering and Keppel DC REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but slumped late to finish in the red.

The Dow shed 108.98 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 34,299.12, while the NASDAQ dropped 93.23 points or 0.68 percent to close at 13,689.57 and the S&P 500 sank 16.25 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,409.59.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 jumped2.6 percent and the Dow advanced 1.3 percent.

The late-day weakness on Wall Street reflected profit taking as traders looked to cash in after the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ hit their best closing levels in over a year, while the Dow set a new six-month closing high.

In economic news, inflation expectations edged down to 3.0 percent in June from 3.1 percent in May, again staying within the narrow 2.9-3.1 percent range. The decrease in inflation expectations may add to recent investor optimism that the Federal Reserve won't follow through on its plan to continue raising interest rates.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid hopes about higher refinery demand and that further stimulus in China will help boost growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.16 or 1.6 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.