Renewed Selling Pressure Likely In Store For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Friday halted the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 60 points or 1.9 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,280-point plateau, although it figures to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index added 17.37 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 3,282.30 after trading between 3,264.45 and 3,290.41.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT jumped 1.45 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 1.04 percent, CapitaLand Investment soared 2.37 percent, City Developments fell 0.13 percent, Comfort DelGro improved 0.84 percent, DBS Group perked 0.17 percent, Emperador skidded 1.00 percent, Genting Singapore improved 0.99 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.66 percent, Keppel Corp surged 2.41 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust climbed 1.18 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rallied 1.28 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust spiked 1.80 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.24 percent, SATS added 0.71 percent, SembCorp Industries slumped 1.35 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.28 percent, Thai Beverage and United Overseas Bank both gained 0.78 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.51 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding dropped 0.75 percent and SingTel, Yangzijiang Financial and Keppel DC REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solidly negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and stayed in the red throughout the session, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 336.98 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 32,816.92, while the NASDAQ slumped 195.46 points or 1.69 percent to close at 11,394.94 and the S&P 500 sank 42.28 points or 1.05 percent to end at 3,970.04.

For the holiday-shortened week, the S&P dove 2.7 percent, while the Dow plunged 3.0 percent and the NASDAQ plummeted 3.3 percent.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came after the Commerce Department reported an unexpected acceleration in the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices in January.

The unexpected spike in core consumer prices added to recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates as the Federal Reserve may be inclined to leave interest rates higher for longer.

After coming under pressure early in the session, the price of crude oil showed a big turnaround over the course of the trading day on Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery jumped $0.93 or 1.2 percent to $76.32 after falling as low as $74.09 a barrel in early trading.