Singapore Shares May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, advancing almost 50 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,320-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on lingering concerns over the outlook for interest rates following the recent batch of data. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets also figure to open in the red.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and trusts, while the properties and industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index added 17.14 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 3,328.37 after trading between 3,300.16 and 3,330.83.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT perked 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 1.04 percent, CapitaLand Investment jumped 1.57 percent, City Developments slumped 0.51 percent, DBS Group gained 0.63 percent, Emperador dropped 0.99 percent, Genting Singapore increased 0.99 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.84 percent, Keppel Corp soared 1.96 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust spiked 1.78 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust rose 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation improved 1.00 percent, SATS added 0.70 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.08 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.55 percent, SingTel shed 0.81 percent, Thai Beverage surged 2.34 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.91 percent, Yangzijiang Financial rallied 1.41 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding lost 0.77 percent and Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Wilmar International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened in the red on Friday, although the Dow managed to break into the positive territory and finish mildly in the green.

The Dow climbed 129.79 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 33,826.69, while the NASDAQ slumped 68.53 points or 0.58 percent to close at 11,787.27 and the S&P 500 fell 11.32 points or 0.28 percent to end at 4,079.09. For the week, the Dow eased 0.1 percent, the NASDAQ rose 0.6 percent and the S&P dipped 0.3 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the week's batch of economic data, which has led to worries the Federal Reserve could raise rates higher than currently anticipated.

Recent comments from Fed officials have added to the concerns, with some suggesting the central bank could raise rates by another 50 basis points next month.

The recovery attempt came as treasury yields showed a notable turnaround, with the benchmark ten-year yield pulling back off its highest levels in well over a month.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Friday, extending its recent losing streak to four days as traders worried about the impact of rate hikes on energy demand. West Texas Intermediate tumbled $2.15 or 2.7 percent to $76.34 per barrel. For the week, oil slumped 4.2 percent.