Singapore Bourse Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had eased almost five points or 0.1 percent. The Straight Times Index now sits just beneath the 4,660-point plateau and it figures to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain amidst geopolitical concerns in South America. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the somewhat overbought Asian bourses are expected to open in mixed fashion.

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

For the day, the index added 9.91 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 4,656.12 after trading between 4,648.38 and 4,669.29.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust slid 0.42 percent, while CapitaLand Investment vaulted 1.11 percent, City Developments added 0.25 percent, DBS Group and Venture Corporation both rose 0.07 percent, DFI Retail Group shed 0.51 percent, Hongkong Land jumped 1.44 percent, Keppel DC REIT slipped 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd gained 0.19 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.48 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Seatrium Limited both increased 0.46 percent, SATS sank 0.52 percent, SembCorp Industries climbed 1.00 percent, Singapore Airlines expanded 0.78 percent, Singapore Exchange improved 0.53 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering eased 0.12 percent, SingTel advanced 0.66 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 1.09 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.54 percent, UOL Group fell 0.46 percent, Wilmar International slumped 0.97 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding dropped 0.86 percent and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Genting Singapore were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly upbeat as the major averages spent most of Friday's session hugging the line for much of the day before finishing mostly in the green.

The Dow climbed 319.09 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 48,382.39, while the NASDAQ dipped 6.37 points or 0.03 percent to close at 23,235.63 and the S&P 500 added12.97 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,858.47.

For the week, the NASDAQ dropped 1.5 percent, the S&P sank 1.0 percent and the Dow lost 0.7 percent.

The lackluster performance by the broader markets came as some traders remained away from their desks following the New Year's Day holiday on Thursday.

Geopolitical concerns may weigh on sentiment after the U.S. carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela. That country's leader, President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, had been captured and flown out of Venezuela.

Crude oil prices ticked lower on Friday ahead of Sunday's OPEC meeting, with West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery dipping $0.12 or 0.2 percent to $57.30. On Sunday, OPEC decided to keep output levels unchanged, as expected. For 2025, crude fell almost 20 percent.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide November numbers for retail sales later today; in October, sales were up 2.3 percent on month and 4.5 percent on year.