Singapore Shares Called Rangebound On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday ended the five-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 100 points or 1.5 percent. The Straits Tines Index now rests just above the 3,860-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as the U.S. markets were shuttered on Thursday - while the European markets were roughly flat with an upside bias, and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, REITs and property stocks, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index shed 24.38 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 3,862.60 after trading between 3,853.35 and 3,880.17.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment and Yangzijiang Financial both tumbled 1.20 percent, while City Developments slumped 0.58 percent, Comfort DelGro tanked 1.37 percent, DBS Group declined 0.97 percent, Genting Singapore plummeted 2.56 percent, Hongkong Land dropped 0.46 percent, Keppel DC REIT advanced 0.90 percent, Keppel Ltd and Frasers Logistics both skidded 0.57 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust added 0.83 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust plunged 1.56 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dipped 0.28 percent, SATS retreated 1.09 percent, Seatrium Limited surrendered 1.34 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.18 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering shed 0.43 percent, SingTel fell 0.32 percent, Thai Beverage stumbled 0.89 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.33 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rallied 0.97 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Emperador, DFI Retail Group and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

There is no lead from Wall Street as the U.S. financial markets were closed on Thursday in honor of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died in late December at age 100.

Investors are looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today, which will potentially provide additional clarity about the strength of the labor market.

Oil prices moved higher Thursday amid optimism about the outlook for global oil demand, and potential supply shortage due to the sanctions on Iranian and Russian crude exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled higher by $0.60 or 0.82 percent at $73.92 a barrel.