Singapore Shares Expected To Bounce Higher Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market turned lower again on Friday, one session after halting the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 10 points or 0.3 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,275-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the properties and REITs and mixed performances from the financial shares and industrials.

For the day, the index shed 15.94 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 3,276.72 after trading between 3,271.08 and 3,290.32.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT tanked 2.15 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tumbled 1.96 percent, CapitaLand Investment plummeted 4.40 percent, City Developments plunged 2.87 percent, DBS Group skidded 0.89 percent, DFI Retail surged 5.65 percent, Emperador slumped 0.99 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.04 percent, Keppel Corp sank 0.82 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust retreated 1.74 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust stumbled 1.32 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust declined 1.84 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.48 percent, SATS gained 0.35 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dropped 0.88 percent, SingTel added 0.40 percent, United Overseas Bank lost 0.42 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.24 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.45 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding soared 4.24 percent and Hongkong Land, SembCorp Industries, Thai Beverage and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but only accelerated as the day continued, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 700.51 points or 2.13 percent to finish at 33,630.61, while the NASDAQ soared 264.09 points or 2.56 percent to end at 10,569.29 and the S&P 500 jumped 86.98 points or 2.28 percent to close at 3,895.08.

Stocks rallied as investors hoped that the report from the Institute for Supply Management showing U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in December will convince the Federal Reserve to slow its aggressive pace on interest rate hikes.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department reported that employment increased more than expected in December, while the jobless rate fell to a 50-year low.

Crude oil prices settled flat on Friday as fears of a global recession raised concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $73.77 a barrel, up just 10 cents from the previous close.