Singapore Stock Market Overdue For Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, sinking almost 50 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,230-point plateau although it's poised to end its slide on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, supported by oil and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index eased 2.88 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 3,232.02 after trading between 3,230.42 and 3,251.29.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT slumped 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Investment declined 1.09 percent, City Developments retreated 1.04 percent, Comfort DelGro climbed 1.68 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.15 percent, Emperador tumbled 1.96 percent, Genting Singapore advanced 0.96 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 2.16 percent, Keppel Corp gathered 0.55 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 0.68 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.86 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust rose 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.56 percent, SATS plummeted 4.10 percent, SembCorp Industries spiked 2.20 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering plunged 2.29 percent, SingTel skidded 0.84 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 2.34 percent, United Overseas Bank sank 0.37 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 2.74 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 0.75 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Wilmar International and UOL Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 387.37 points or 1.17 percent to finish at 33,390.97, while the NASDAQ rallied 226.01 points or 1.97 percent to end at 11,689.01 and the S&P 500 jumped 64.29 points or 1.61 percent to close at 4,045.64. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 2.6 percent, the S&P gained 1.9 percent and the Dow climbed 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. A pullback by treasury yields also generated some buying interest, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note giving ground after jumping to a three-month closing high above 4.0 percent.

Traders also reacted positively to a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a very slight slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in February.

Crude oil prices reversed an early sell-off after the United Arab Emirates denied a report that was thinking of leaving OPEC. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery surged $1.52 or 1.9 percent to $79.68 a barrel. For the week, crude oil spiked 4.4 percent.