Singapore Shares May Stop The Bleeding On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 25 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,530-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and industrial issues.

For the day, the index dipped 3.78 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 4,531.36 after trading between 4,511.88 and 4,536.68,

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT tumbled 1.42 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.43 percent, City Developments sank 0.55 percent, DBS Group eased 0.09 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 4.33 percent, Hongkong Land soared 2.14 percent, Keppel DC REIT declined 0.88 percent, Keppel Ltd rallied 0.79 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust dropped 0.69 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust and SembCorp Industries both added 0.50 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation fell 0.16 percent, SATS rose 0.29 percent, Seatrium Limited and Venture Corporation both lost 0.47 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slipped 0.12 percent, SingTel tanked 1.51 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.17 percent, UOL Group perked 0.12 percent, Wilmar International retreated 0.97 percent, Yangzijiang Financial stumbled 2.17 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slumped 0.87 percent and Genting Singapore, Thai Beverage, CapitaLand Investment, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Comfort DelGro and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and bounced up and down all day but always remained in the green.

The Dow added 104.05 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 47,954.99, while the NASDAQ gained 72.99 points or 0.31 percent to close at 23,578.13 and the S&P 500 rose 13.28 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,870.40.

For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.9 percent, the Dow climbed 0.5 percent and the S&P rose 0.3 percent.

The modest strength on Wall Street followed the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that was in line with estimates, reinforcing recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating an 87.2 percent chance the Fed will lower interest rates by another quarter point this week.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday on persistent geopolitical tension due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Venezuela standoff. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.35 or 0.59 percent at $60.02 per barrel.