Singapore Stock Market Expected To Open To The Upside

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Friday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had added almost a dozen points or 0.3 percent. The Straits Time Index now sits just above the 3,835-point plateau and it may pick up steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting, especially among the oil and technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The STI finished barely lower on Friday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index eased 1.50 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,836.02 after trading between 3,823.75 and 3,838.29.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rallied 0.95 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rose 0.38 percent, City Developments dropped 0.79 percent, Comfort DelGro added 0.70 percent, DBS Group collected 0.34 percent, DFI Retail advanced 0.89 percent, Genting Singapore gained 0.69 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 0.92 percent, Keppel DC REIT and SingTel both slumped 0.90 percent, Keppel Ltd shed 0.60 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust jumped 0.97 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.18 percent, SATS gathered 0.33 percent, Seatrium Limited stumbled 0.95 percent, SembCorp Industries plummeted 2.13 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.64 percent, Wilmar International spiked 1.85 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding lost 0.43 percent and Yangzijiang Financial, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday and continued to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 674.62 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 41,488.19, while the NASDAQ rallied 451.07 points or 2.61 percent to close at 17,754.09 and the S&P 500 jumped 117.42 points or 2.13 percent to end at 5,638.94.

For the week, the Dow plunged 3.1 percent, the NASDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 2.3 percent.

The rally on Wall Street saw traders pick up stocks at reduced levels after the steep drop on Thursday, which dragged the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in six months - and also sending the S&P into correction territory.

In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a substantial deterioration in consumer sentiment and a surge by inflation expectations in the month of March.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday as worries about excess supply in the market eased after the U.S. government announced fresh sanctions on Iranian oil and shipping. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.63 or 1 percent at $67.18 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will see February numbers for non-oil domestic exports later this morning; in January, NODX were down 3.3 percent on month and 2.1 percent on year.