Singapore Shares May Take Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market had finished lower in six straight sessions, surrendering almost 120 points or 2.9 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,150-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on new U.S. tariffs, plus an extremely weak American jobs report. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index shed 19.94 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 4,153.83 after trading between 4,151.44 and 4,195.01.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT tumbled 1.79 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slipped 0.45 percent, CapitaLand Investment dropped 0.72 percent, DBS Group, City Developments and Comfort DelGro all shed 0.65 percent, DFI Retail Group contracted 0.87 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 1.98 percent, Keppel DC REIT plummeted 3.38 percent, Keppel Ltd stumbled 1.89 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 0.78 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.49 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust clumped 0.86 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.47 percent, SATS rose 0.31 percent, Seatrium Limited rallied 1.32 percent, SembCorp Industries surrendered 1.93 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering retreated 1.25 percent, SingTel added 0.52 percent, United Overseas Bank dipped 0.33 percent, UOL Group advanced 0.58 percent, Wilmar International sank 0.68 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plunged 2.07 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding declined 1.17 percent and Genting Singapore, Thai Beverage and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 542.42 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 43,588.58, while the NASDAQ tanked 472.27 points or 2.24 percent to close at 20,650.13 and the S&P 500 dropped 101.38 points or 1.60 percent to end at 6,238.01.

For the week, the Dow plummeted 2.9 percent, while the S&P sank 2.4 percent and the NASDAQ was down 2.2 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid concerns about the economic impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs, as the White House announced new tariff rates on dozens of countries.

The new tariffs range from just 10 percent to as high as 41 percent, and the White House said a 40 percent levy will be imposed on goods that have been transshipped to evade applicable duties.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to the closely watched Labor Department report showing much weaker than expected job growth in the month of July.

Crude oil prices fell Friday on demand concerns for potentially reduced consumption amid new tariffs from the U.S. government. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.92 or 2.77 percent at $67.34 per barrel.