Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 15 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,300-point plateau although it figures to run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower as inflation concerns war with support from oil stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index picked up 8.12 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 3,302.66 after trading between 3,300.82 and 3,315.85.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust improved 0.50 percent, CapitaLand Investment jumped 1.07 percent, City Developments gained 0.41 percent, DBS Group perked 0.15 percent, Hongkong Land dipped 0.23 percent, Keppel Corp advanced 0.51 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust sank 0.55 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.42 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust and UOL Group both climbed 0.57 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gathered 0.31 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 0.70 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.28 percent, SingTel fell 0.40 percent, Thai Beverage spiked 1.57 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.60 percent, Wilmar International dropped 0.73 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 1.33 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 1.65 percent and Emperador, Genting Singapore, Comfort DelGro and SATS were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off early support on Friday, quickly heading south and staying in the red throughout the day.

The Dow tumbled 143.23 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 33,886.47, while the NASDAQ sank 42.83 points or 0.35 percent to close at 12,123.47 and the S&P 500 fell 8.58 points or 0.21 percent to end at 4,137.64. For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.8 percent and the NASAQ rose 0.3 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street coincided with the release of a report from the University of Michigan showing a jump in inflation expectations in the month of April.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales fell more than expected in March, while the Federal Reserve said U.S. industrial production increased more than expected in March, although the increase was largely due to a spike in utilities output.

Crude oil futures settled modestly higher Friday, lifted by the International Energy Agency's forecast that global crude demand will grow to a record 101.9 million barrels per day this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May rose $0.36 or 0.4 percent at $82.52 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide March numbers for non-oil domestic exports later this morning, with forecasts suggesting am increase of 1.7 percent on month and a decline of 20.8 percent on year. In February, NODX was down 8.0 percent on month and 15.6 percent on year, for a trade surplus of SGD6.708 billion.