The Singapore stock market turned lower again on Friday, one session after halting the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,160-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support from oil and technology stocks in particular. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.
For the day, the index dipped 4.53 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 3,157.97 after trading between 3,155.16 and 3,172.57. Volume was 2.04 billion shares worth 1.18 billion Singapore dollars. There were 257 gainers and 220 decliners.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust added 0.45 percent, while City Developments shed 0.39 percent, Dairy Farm International was down 0.23 percent, DBS Group skidded 0.54 percent, Keppel Corp tumbled 0.77 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust tanked 0.99 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation sank 0.48 percent, SATS dropped 0.24 percent, Singapore Airlines gained 0.59 percent, Singapore Exchange jumped 1.15 percent, Singapore Press Holdings rose 0.55 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering climbed 1.03 percent, SingTel fell 0.43 percent, Thai Beverage advanced 0.73 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.15 percent and Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand, Comfort DelGro, Mapletree Commercial Trust, Jardine Strategic Holdings, Genting Singapore and SembCorp Industries all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street ends up being mildly positive as stocks opened higher on Friday but quickly dropped into the red before a late recovery saw them finish with mild upside.
The Dow added 13.36 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 34,479.60, while the NASDAQ gained 49.09 points or 0.35 percent to end at 14,069.42 and the S&P 500 rose 8.26 points or 0.19 percent to close at 4,247.44. For the week, the NASDAQ jumped 1.8 percent, the Dow fell 0.8 percent and the S&P gained 0.4 percent.
Traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of this week's Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting. The Fed is widely expected to leave its monetary policy unchanged, but traders will be looking for any clues the central bank is considering tapering its asset purchases.
In economic news, the University of Michigan reported a bigger than expected rebound in its consumer sentiment index in June.
Crude oil prices moved higher Friday on rising expectations that global energy demand will pick up thanks to accelerating in vaccination rollouts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July settled at $70.91 a barrel, gaining $0.62 or 0.9 percent. For the week, WTI Crude futures rose 1.9 percent, rising for a third straight week.
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