Soft Start Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,215-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with strength from technology stocks offset by weakness from oil companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are likely on the same path.

The STI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the trusts, gains from the industrials and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index eased 2.40 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 3,217.97 after trading between 3,205.27 and 3,223.12.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 0.51 percent, while CapitaLand Investment fell 0.36 percent, Comfort DelGro dropped 0.72 percent, DBS Group collected 0.48 percent, Emperador surged 2.30 percent, Genting Singapore shed 0.56 percent, Keppel DC REIT added 0.59 percent, Keppel Ltd rose 0.27 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.55 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust slumped 0.86 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.68 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slid 0.29 percent, SATS skidded 0.79 percent, Seatrium Limited retreated 1.25 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.50 percent, Thai Beverage declined 1.01 percent, Wilmar International plunged2.59 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.56 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.64 percent and City Developments, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, SembCorp Industries, SingTel and Hongkong Land were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened flat on Friday but quickly diverged, with the Dow and S&P 500 ending under water and the NASDAQ closing slightly in the green.

The Dow tumbled 305.50 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 39,475.90, while the NASDAQ added 27.02 points or 0.16 percent to close at 16,428.82 and the S&P 500 fell 7.35 points or 0.14 percent to end at 5,234.18. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 2.9 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.3 percent and the Dow jumped 2.0 percent.

Profit taking contributed to modest weakness in early trading, with some traders looking to cash in on the recent strength in the markets. Selling pressure was relatively subdued, however, as traders remained optimistic about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last week.

While the timing of the first rate remains somewhat uncertain the chances of a quarter point rate cut in June have rebounded to 66.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Nvidia (NVDA) paced the tech-heavy NASDAQ, with the chipmaker surging by 3.1 percent. The AI darling, which has recently been a key driver of trading on Wall Street, ended the day at a record closing high.

Oil prices fell on Friday, as the dollar rose sharply with the Federal Reserve set to hold interest rates higher for now. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.44 at $80.63 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide February fata for consumer prices later today; in January, overall inflation was down 0.7 percent on month and up 2.9 percent on year.