Singapore Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday halted the six-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 65 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,535-point plateau and it may remain stuck in neutral on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amidst a lack of catalysts, although oil and technology stocks may provide support. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourse were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and trusts, while the properties and industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index shed 19.38 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 4,535.14 after trading between 4,531.85 and 4,561.21.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT dropped 0.71 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 0.43 percent, CapitaLand Investment dipped 0.38 percent, City Developments added 0.14 percent, DBS Group slipped 0.40 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 7.08 percent, Genting Singapore tumbled 1.34 percent, Hongkong Land skidded 0.76 percent, Keppel DC REIT lost 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd contracted 1.26 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust declined 0.98 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust stumbled 1.53 percent, SATS advanced 0.88 percent, SembCorp Industries slumped 0.83 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.12 percent, SingTel plummeted 1.69 percent, United Overseas Bank slid 0.26 percent, UOL Group sank 0.69 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.64 percent, Yangzijiang Financial retreated 1.08 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.76 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage, Seatrium Limited, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher but spent the day bouncing back and forth across the changed line, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 31.96 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 47,850.94, while the NASDAQ added 51.04 points or 0.22 percent to close at 23,505.14 and the S&P 500 rose 7.40 points or 0.11 percent to end at 6,857.12.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following the volatility earlier in the week.

Traders largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a three-year low last week.

While the data partly offset recent optimism about the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next week, the central bank is still widely expected to lower rates by another quarter point.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday as expectations of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war dimmed. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.70 or 1.19 percent at $59.65 per barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide October numbers for retail sales later today; in September, sales were down 1.4 percent on month and up 2.8 percent on year.