Soft Start Expected For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the four-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 90 points or 2.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,450-point plateau and it may spin its wheels again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns over the health of the world's economy. The European and U.S. markets were firmly lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index dipped 4.19 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,454.47 after trading between 3,446.08 and 3,475.87.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust soared 2.39 percent, while City Developments rose 0.19 percent, Comfort DelGro skidded 0.69 percent, DBS Group shed 0.33 percent, Emperador climbed 1.16 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 1.38 percent, Keppel DC REIT spiked 1.39 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust rallied 2.17 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust advanced 0.81 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust surged 2.94 percent, SATS tumbled 1.37 percent, Seatrium Limited dropped 0.64 percent, SembCorp Industries added 0.41 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.45 percent, SingTel fell 0.32 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 0.94 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 3.45 percent and Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Investment, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Genting Singapore and Keppel Ltd were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower and spent the rest of the day under water, finishing with heavy losses.

The Dow stumbled 410.39 points or 1.01 percent to finish at 40,345.41, while the NASDAQ plunged 436.87 points or 2.55 percent to close at 16,690.83 and the S&P 500 sank 94.99 points or 1.73 percent to end at 5,408.42.

For the week, the NASDAQ plummeted 5.8 percent, the Dow tanked 2.9 percent and the S&P tumbled 4.3 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy after the Labor Department released a closely watched report showing employment rose by less than expected in the month of August.

While the data is seen as increasing the chances of a 50-basis point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this month, traders seemed worried the central bank may have waited too long to prevent the economy from slipping into a recession.

Oil prices fell to an 18-month low on Friday, weighed down persisting concerns about the outlook for oil demand following the disappointing jobs report. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $1.48 or 2.1 percent at $67.67 a barrel.