Singapore Bourse May Snap Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 20 points or 0.5 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 4,430-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with earnings optimism tempered by interest rate pessimism. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the financial shares and property stocks were mitigated by support from the industrials.

For the day, the index dipped 8.82 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 4,428.62 after trading between 4,422.17 and 4,451.43.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT slipped 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Investment fell 0.38 percent, City Developments stumbled 1.77 percent, DBS Group eased 0.09 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 3.54 percent, Genting Singapore added 0.69 percent, Hongkong Land declined 0.81 percent, Keppel DC REIT lost 0.42 percent, Keppel Ltd jumped 1.39 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 0.69 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust tumbled 1.39 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust slumped 0.74 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was down 0.06 percent, SATS shed 0.58 percent, SembCorp Industries gained 0.46 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering sank 0.59 percent, SingTel and Yangzijiang Financial both retreated 0.93 percent, Thai Beverage climbed 1.05 percent, United Overseas Bank dipped 0.14 percent, UOL Group dropped 0.63 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.32 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Comfort DelGro and Seatrium Limited were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday, dipped midday but rebounded into the close to finish in the green.

The Dow added 40.75 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 47,562.87, while the NASDAQ climbed 143.81 points or 0.61 percent to end at 23,724.96 and the S&P 500 rose 17.86 points or 0.26 percent to close at 6,840.20. For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.2 percent, the Dow added 0.8 percent and the S&P gained 0.7 percent.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Amazon (AMZN), which reached a new record closing high after reporting better than expected third quarter results amid a sharp increase in revenue.

Uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the volatility on Wall Street following Federal Reserve Jerome Powell's remarks earlier this week.

While the Fed lowered interest rates by another quarter point as widely expected on Wednesday, Powell's post-meeting remarks partly offset optimism about another rate cut in December.

Crude oil prices edged higher Friday following reports the U.S. intends to strike Venezuelan military installations. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.41 or 0.68 percent at $60.98 per barrel.