Singapore Bourse Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market ticked higher again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had risen just 6 points or 0.15 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,880-point plateau, although it may remain stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed trade and tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index perked 2.33 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 3,882.42 after trading between 3,865.93 and 3,894.65.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment shed 0.40 percent, while City Developments rose 0.21 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.68 percent, DBS Group collected 0.61 percent, DFI Retail lost 0.37 percent, Emperador tumbled 1.61 percent, Genting Singapore and Yangzijiang Financial both advanced 0.71 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 0.76 percent, Keppel DC REIT jumped 1.40 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation rallied 0.93 percent, Seatrium Limited added 0.49 percent, SembCorp Industries retreated 1.50 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.53 percent, SingTel stumbled 1.77 percent, UOL Group fell 0.35 percent, Wilmar International gained 0.33 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 3.74 percent and Keppel Ltd, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, SATS, Thai Beverage, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 256.02 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,603.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 188.53 points or 1.00 percent to close at 18,737.21 and the S&P 500 sank 39.19 points or 0.67 percent to end at 5,802.82.

For the week, the S&P 500 gave up 2.6 percent, while the NASDAQ and the Dow both plunged 2.5 percent.

The initial slump on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union beginning June 1, sparking renewed trade concerns.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department said new home sales in the U.S. spiked in April compared to a significantly downwardly revised level in March.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday but still fell for the week amid reports of another production increase by OPEC for July. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.34 or 0.6 percent to $61.54 a barrel. For the week, crude fell 1.5 percent.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide April numbers for industrial production later today; in March, production was down 3.6 percent on month and up 5.8 percent on year.