Singapore Bourse May Run Out Of Steam On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 15 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,270-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing concerns over the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials and industrials, while the properties and REITS were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 13.34 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 3,269.53 after trading between 3,256.19 and 3,278.88.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rose 0.50 percent, while CapitaLand Investment advanced 0.82 percent, City Developments jumped 1.33 percent, DBS Group perked 0.18 percent, Genting Singapore gathered 0.53 percent, Hongkong Land tumbled 1.69 percent, Keppel Corp surged 1.51 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.61 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.45 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.64 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 0.57 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 0.89 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rallied 1.19 percent, SingTel strengthened 1.17 percent, Thai Beverage improved 0.74 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.52 percent, Wilmar International soared 1.46 percent, Yangzijiang Financial spiked 1.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding increased 0.72 percent and Ascendas REIT, SATS, Keppel DC REIT, Comfort DelGro and Emperador were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened deep in the red and the losses accelerated as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 348.99 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,037.49, while the NASDAQ plunged 233.25 points or 2.18 percent to close at 10,476.12 and the S&P 500 dropped 56.05 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,822.39.

The pullback on Wall Street came as some traders cashed in on Wednesday's gains amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the global economy.

Stocks saw further downside following the release of a report from the Conference Board showing a continued slump by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of November.

Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day winning streak as the dollar advanced on rate hike bets. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended $0.80 lower at $77.49 a barrel, falling from a high of $79.90 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release November figures for consumer prices and industrial production later today. Overall inflation is expected to rise 6.5 percent on year, down from 6.7 percent in October, while core CPI is tipped to ease to 5.00 percent from 5.10 percent. Industrial production is expected to slip 1.2 percent on month and 1.1 percent on year after adding 0.9 percent on month and falling 0.8 percent on year.