Singapore Stock Market Has A Red Light For Friday’s Trade

The Singapore stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 50 points or 1.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,185-point plateau although it’s expected to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over tax rates in the United States. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index climbed 32.72 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 3,187.78 after trading between 3,170.41 and 3,188.71. Volume was 1.41 billion shares worth 1.24 billion Singapore dollars. There were 273 gainers and 203 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rose 0.65 percent, while CapitaLand was up 0.27 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and, United Overseas Bank both climbed 1.40 percent, City Developments added 0.89 percent, Comfort DelGro surged 2.29 percent, Dairy Farm International rallied 1.88 percent, DBS Group accelerated 2.01 percent, Genting Singapore improved 0.56 percent, Keppel Corp strengthened 0.38 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust jumped 1.43 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust collected 0.51 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation soared 2.13 percent, Singapore Airlines gathered 1.20 percent, Singapore Exchange perked 1.15 percent, Singapore Press Holdings increased 0.55 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering advanced 1.01 percent, SingTel shed 0.39 percent, Thai Beverage spiked 2.10 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 0.73 percent and SATS, SembCorp Industries, Wilmar International and Jardine Strategic Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages showed little movement early on Thursday but headed due south in the afternoon to finish firmly in the red.

The Dow tumbled 321.41 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 33,815.90, while the NASDAQ skidded 131.81 points or 0.94 percent to end at 13,818.41 and the S&P 500 sank 38.44 points or 0.92 percent to close at 4,134.98.

The afternoon sell-off came following reports that President Joe Biden plans to propose nearly doubling the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals to fund spending on childcare and education.

Earlier in the day, traders saw a Labor Department report unexpectedly show a continued decline in initial jobless claims last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors noted another steep drop in U.S. existing home sales in March.

Crude oil futures rebounded from early losses to settle slightly higher on Thursday, gaining for the first time in three sessions as worries about the energy demand outlook weighed on oil prices early in the day. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.08 or 0.1 percent at $61.43 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will provide consumer price numbers for March later today; in February, overall inflation was up 0.6 percent on month and 0.7 percent on year, while core CPI gained an annual 0.2 percent.