Steady Start Seen For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday ended the two-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 45 points or 0.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 5,220-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with weakness from the technology shares likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index climbed 55.65 points or 1.08 percent to finish at the daily high of 5,217.15 after trading as low as 5,164.95.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT and CapitaLand Investment both climbed 0.81 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust jumped 1.27 percent, City Developments gained 0.52 percent, DBS Group rallied 1.53 percent, DFI Retail Group expanded 0.83 percent, Hongkong Land increased 0.56 percent, Keppel DC REIT and SingTel both rose 0.45 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.55 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation spiked 1.70 percent, Seatrium Limited vaulted 1.02 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.64 percent, Singapore Airlines advanced 0.79 percent, Singapore Exchange perked 0.08 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering surged 2.65 percent, Thai Beverage strengthened 1.15 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 1.06 percent, UOL Group fell 0.42 percent, Wilmar International soared 1.93 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding improved 0.58 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, SATS and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but slumped after the release of U.S. jobless data; the markers eventually recovered to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 594.83 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 52,900.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 207.36 points or 0.80 percent to end at 25,832.67 and the S&P 500 perked 0.01 point or 0.00 percent to close at 7,483.24.

The markets opened slightly higher on Thursday but were clearly waiting on the jobs data. Stocks sank after the Labor Department said employment in the U.S. increased much less than expected in June.

Sentiment eventually turned higher again as the lower-than-expected payrolls data caused markets to tone down fears of an immediate rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department reported a steep drop in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in May, thanks to a sharp pullback in new orders for durable goods. Also, first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Thursday after the U.S. and Iran expressed contradictory remarks over the management of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $0.05 or 0.07 percent at $68.63 per barrel.