Singapore Shares Expected To Remain Rangebound On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 50 points or 1.3 percent. The Straits Times Index new rests just above the 3,770-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed selling pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower in this holiday-shortened week, with technology stocks likely to be a key drag. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, industrial issues and REITs.

For the day, the index gained 10.18 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,771.63 after trading between 3,762.93 and 3,785.21.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.52 percent, while DBS Group perked 0.02 percent, Emperador slumped 1.19 percent, Genting Singapore strengthened 0.66 percent, Hongkong Land and Keppel DC REIT both gained 0.46 percent, Keppel Ltd and Singapore Technologies Engineering both spiked 0.88 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust rallied 0.83 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rose 0.45 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.18 percent, SATS climbed 0.55 percent, Seatrium Limited added 0.49 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 0.74 percent, SingTel increased 0.32 percent, Thai Beverage dropped 0.90 percent, UOL Group fell 0.19 percent, Wilmar International soared 0.99 percent, Yangzijiang Financial surged 2.50 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding improved 0.34 percent and CapitaLand Investment, City Developments, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Logistics Trust and DFI Retail Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained that way throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 333.59 point or 0.77 percent to finish at 42,992.21, while the NASDAQ slumped 298.37 points or 1.49 percent to close at 19.722.03 and the S&P 500 sank 66.75 points or 1.11 percent to end at 5,970.84.

For the week, the Dow picked up 1.4 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P both advanced 1.5 percent.

The numbers may have been a bit skewed by light volume, with many investors away from their desks on holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

On the economic front, data showed that U.S. retail inventories, excluding autos, increased by 0.6 percent on month in November, following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in the prior month, according to preliminary estimates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 a barrel, gaining about 1.4 percent.