Singapore Shares: Resistance At 4,900 Points

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market rebounded on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 60 points or 1.2 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 4,900-point plateau although it's expected to open to the downside on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be negative thanks to the conflict in the Middle East and the resulting surge in oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index collected 10.42 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 4,898.18 after trading between 4,857.70 and 4,927.01.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and SingTel both climbed 0.81 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.44 percent, CapitaLand Investment vaulted 1.12 percent, City Developments rallied 1.21 percent, DBS Group perked 0.05 percent, DFI Retail Group accelerated 2.11 percent, Hongkong Land eased 0.13 percent, Keppel Ltd tumbled 3.02 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.23 percent, SATS was up 0.28 percent, Seatrium Limited surged 2.62 percent, SembCorp Industries jumped 1.72 percent, Singapore Airlines expanded 1.06 percent, Singapore Exchange advanced 0.77 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering and United Overseas Bank both added 0.46 percent, Thai Beverage soared 2.35 percent, UOL Group rose 0.42 percent, Wilmar International spiked 2.16 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, Keppel DC REIT, Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains grim as the major averages opened lower on Friday and got worse as the day progressed, ending at session lows.

The Dow plunged 793.46 points or 1.73 percent to finish at 45,166.64, while the NASDAQ tumbled 459.74 points or 2.15 percent to close at 20,948.36 and the S&P 500 dropped 108.31 points or 1.67 percent to end at 6,368.85.

For the week, the NASDAQ plummeted 3.2 percent, the S&P 500 dove 2.1 percent and the Dow slid 0.9 percent. The steep losses dragged the major averages down to their lowest closing levels in over eight months.

A continued surge by the price of crude oil weighed on Wall Street, with international benchmark Brent crude futures jumping back above $110 a barrel after soaring by more than 5 percent.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Friday after Iran shut down reports of peace talks for the ongoing conflict. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $5.32 or 5.63 percent at $99.80 per barrel.

Analysts suggest that the longer crude oil prices remain at elevated levels, the greater the fear of inflationary pressures continuing to climb.