Singapore Stock Market Due For Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in six straight sessions, sinking almost 150 points or 4.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,175-point plateau although it's looking at a steady start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, although bargain hunting would likely limit any downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index sank 22.82 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 3,173.93 after trading between 3,166.60 and 3,186.31.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment stumbled 1.28 percent, while City Developments and Mapletree Logistics Trust both sank 0.60 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.78 percent, DBS Group fell 0.15 percent, Emperador skidded 0.98 percent, Hongkong Land tumbled 1.93 percent, Keppel Corp plunged 2.34 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust retreated 1.30 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation lost 0.32 percent, SATS slumped 1.18 percent, SembCorp Industries plummeted 3.58 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering shed 0.52 percent, SingTel dropped 0.85 percent, Wilmar International added 0.28 percent, Yangzijiang Financial declined 1.39 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surrendered 2.33 percent and Genting Singapore, Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Seatrium Limited, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Keppel DC REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday but recovered to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 25.96 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 34,500.66, while the NASDAQ shed 26.12 points or 0.20 percent to close at 13,290.78 and the S&P 500 eased 0.65 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,369.71.

For the week, the Dow shed 2.2 percent, the S&P lost 2.1 percent and the NASDAQ sank 2.6 percent.

The lack of direction on Wall Street came as traders remained cautious amid concerns the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates higher for longer to control inflation.

The market had maintained a negative bias thanks to hawkish minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting and higher bond yields, but bargain hunting pared the losses.

Oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending gains from the previous session after data indicated a drop in output, while a weaker dollar contributed as well to the uptick in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures added $0.86 or 1.1 percent to $81.25 a barrel. WTI Crude futures shed 2 percent for the week.