Continued Consolidation Called For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Friday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,245-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns for an economic slowdown and an increase in interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and property stocks and a mixed picture from the industrials.

For the day, the index sank 26.97 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 3,246.51 after trading between 3,240.05 and 3,271.95. Volume was 1.3 billion shares worth 989 million Singapore dollars. There were 264 decliners and 214 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT skidded 0.67 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 0.94 percent, CapitaLand Investment stumbled 0.77 percent, City Developments tanked 1.42 percent, Comfort DelGro and Singapore Technologies Engineering both shed 0.51 percent, DBS Group surrendered 1.23 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 0.62 percent, Keppel Corp tumbled 1.41 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 1.04 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.56 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation plunged 1.45 percent, SATS declined 0.96 percent, SembCorp Industries lost 0.31 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 0.10 percent, SingTel plummeted 1.48 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 0.76 percent, United Overseas Bank weakened 0.74 percent, Wilmar International added 0.24 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.06 percent and Mapletree Industrial Trust, Hongkong Land and Yangzijiang Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 292.26 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 33.706.74, while the NASDAQ plummeted 260.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 12,705.21 and the S&P 500 slumped 55.26 points or 1.29 percent to end at 4,228.48. For the week, the NASDAQ dove 2.6 percent, the S&P sank 1.2 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on recent strength in the markets, which lifted the major averages well off their June lows to their best levels in almost four months.

Traders may also have been moving money out of stocks ahead of this week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Remarks by Federal Reserve officials at the annual symposium are likely to be in focus, as traders look for additional clues about the pace of future interest rate hikes.

Oil futures settled modestly higher on Friday but posted a weekly loss due to concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid fears of a possible recession in Europe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $90.77 a barrel.