Rally May Stall For Singapore Stock Markets

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 30 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,745-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were own and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the property and industrial sectors, while the financials were soft.

For the day, the index rose 6.54 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 3,744.70 after trading between 3,722.24 and 3,748.72.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added 0.51 percent, while CapitaLand Investment slid 0.36 percent, City Developments lost 0.59 percent, Comfort DelGro tumbled 1.34 percent, DBS Group was down 0.19 percent, DFI Retail plunged 1.68 percent, Genting Singapore strengthened 1.31 percent, Hongkong Land rallied 2.41 percent, Keppel DC REIT plummeted 3.08 percent, Keppel Ltd soared 2.82 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.81 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust slumped 0.87 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.78 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.18 percent, SATS spiked 2.67 percent, Seatrium Limited tanked 1.59 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 1.99 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.21 percent, SingTel shed 0.63 percent, Thai Beverage skidded 0.96 percent, Venture Corporation surged 3.06 percent, Wilmar International dipped 0.33 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 1.23 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell 0.39 percent and Emperador was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and only weakened further as the day progressed.

The Dow plunged 305.87 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 43,444.99, while the NASDAQ plummeted 427.53 points or 2.24 percent to close at 18,680.12 and the S&P 500 dropped 78.55 points or 1.32 percent to end at 5,870.62. For the week, the NASDAQ shed 3.2 percent, the S&P sank 2.1 percent and the Dow fell 1.2 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Federal Reserve Chair Powell's recent remarks suggesting the central bank doesn't need to hurry to lower rates. Citing the strength of the U.S. economy, Powell said the Fed can take a careful approach to future monetary policy decisions.

Potentially adding to concerns economic strength will lead the Fed to hold off on future rate cuts, the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales increased by slightly more than expected in October.

Oil futures plummeted Friday on concerns about the outlook for demand, recent data showing an increase in U.S. crude inventories and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.68 or 2.45 percent at $67.02 a barrel; they shed 5 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Singapore will see October numbers for non-oil domestic exports later this morning; in September, NODX was up 1.1 percent on month and 2.7 percent on year for a trade surplus of SGD5.250 billion.