Soft Start Expected For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slipping more than 20 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,215-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the property stocks and industrials, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index lost 10.70 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 3,216.91 after trading between 3,215.70 and 3,230.60.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust tumbled 1.54 percent, while CapitaLand Investment slid 0.37 percent, City Developments skidded 0.69 percent, DBS Group added 0.33 percent, Emperador rallied 2.38 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 1.64 percent, Keppel Ltd shed 0.56 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Singapore Technologies Engineering both slumped 0.75 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust fell 0.43 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 0.68 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.65 percent, SATS declined 0.78 percent, Seatrium Limited plummeted 3.57 percent, SembCorp Industries lost 0.55 percent, SingTel retreated 0.84 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.28 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plunged 2.75 percent and Comfort DelGro, Keppel DC REIT, Thai Beverage, Yangzijiang Financial and Genting Singapore were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened lower on Friday and continued to trend lower throughout the day, ending neat session lows.

The Dow plummeted 475.84 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 37,983.24, while the NASDAQ tumbled 267.10 points or 1.62 percent to close at 16,175.09 and the S&P 500 sank 75.65 points or 1.46 percent to end at 5,123.41.

For the week, the Dow dropped 2.5 percent, the S&P lost 1.6 percent and the NASDAQ fell 0.5 percent.

Inflation concerns continued to weigh on the markets as the Labor Department released a report showing import prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in March, which further dampened hopes for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve in June.

Uninspired earnings and guidance also spooked investors as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Intel, Amazon and Goldman Sachs all ended firmly under water.

Oil prices moved higher on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for supply due to rising tensions in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.64 at $85.66 a barrel.