Singapore Stock Market May Extend Friday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the seven-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 140 points or 3.9 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,620-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking likely on the docket after strong gains late last week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are tipped to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the properties and trusts, gains from the banks and a mixed picture from the industrials.

For the day, the index lost 8.42 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 3,624.76 after trading between 3,613.76 and 3,636.21.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 2.78 percent, while CapitaLand Investment plunged 3.93 percent, City Developments tumbled 3.08 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.67 percent, DBS Group jumped 1.30 percent, Emperador rallied 1.16 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 0.58 percent, Hongkong Land skidded 1.08 percent, Keppel DC REIT surrendered 3.54 percent, Keppel Ltd eased 0.15 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plummeted 3.97 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust tanked 3.92 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust stumbled 2.04 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.06 percent, SATS rose 0.27 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering declined 1.47 percent, SingTel added 0.59 percent, Wilmar International slumped 1.26 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 0.37 percent and Seatrium Limited, SembCorp Industries, Yangzijiang Financial and Thai Beverage were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow broke barely into the green by the session's end.

The Dow added 38.16 points or 0.09 percent to finish at a record 42,063.36, while the NASDAQ slumped 65.68 points or 0.36 percent to close at 17,948.32 and the S7P 500 fell 11.09 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,702.55.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.6 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.5 percent and the S&P rallied 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, with traders cashing in on Thursday's significant rally amid a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision to slash interest rates by half of a percentage point.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they question what the next catalyst for the markets will be now that the Fed's first rate cut is in the rearview mirror.

Oil futures settled slightly lower on Friday due largely to profit taking by traders after solid gains last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October eased $0.03 at $71.92 a barrel.