Singapore Stock Market Due For Support On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, slipping almost 25 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,095-point plateau and it's expected to halt its slide on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with bargain hunting expected to lift the oversold bourses - particularly among the technology shares. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished barely lower on Thursday as losses from the financials and industrials were mitigated by support from the property sector.

For the day, the index eased 0.51 points or 0.02 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,092.80 after peaking at 3,124.45. Volume was 1.17 billion shares worth 962.5 million Singapore dollars. There were 286 gainers and 227 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT spiked 1.09 percent, while CapitaLand Investment soared 1.61 percent, City Developments jumped 0.86 percent, DBS Group sank 0.37 percent, Hongkong Land and Mapletree Logistics Trust both rallied 0.61 percent, Keppel Corp slumped 0.46 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust retreated 0.55 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust surged 2.37 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation shed 0.26 percent, SATS skidded 0.50 percent, SembCorp Industries dropped 0.35 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 0.11 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.52 percent, SingTel gained 0.40 percent, United Overseas Bank declined 0.64 percent, Yangzijiang Financial plummeted 3.37 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.55 percent and Wilmar International, Genting Singapore, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, swooned midday before accelerating higher into the close.

The Dow jumped 194.23 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 30,677.36, while the NASDAQ spiked 179.11 points or 1.62 percent to end at 11,232.19 and the S&P 500 gained 35.94 points or 0.95 percent to close at 3,795.73.

The markets continued to experience choppy trading as traders weighed going bargain hunting following recent weakness against the possibility of a global recession.

Traders kept an eye on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, with the Fed chief reiterating his commitment to moving quickly to bring inflation back down. But the Fed's plans to aggressively raise interest rates to combat inflation has led to concerns tighter monetary policy will tip the economy into a recession.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower last week.

Oil futures slid on Thursday, losing ground for a second straight session on concerns about outlook for energy demand amid rising possibility of a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.92 or 1.8 percent at $104.27 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide May numbers for industrial production later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 2.8 percent on month and 5.8 percent on year. That follows the 2/2 percent monthly increase and the 6.2 percent annual gain in April.