Singapore Stock Market May See Additional Support On Friday

The Singapore stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the three-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 60 points or 1.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,210-point plateau and it’s expected to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive, with support expected from the technology, retail, oil and airline stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index advanced 29.60 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 3,209.18 after trading between 3,201.05 and 3,217.88. Volume was 1.78 billion shares worth 1.19 billion Singapore dollars. There were 246 gainers and 197 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT lost 0.37 percent, while CapitaLand Investment fell 0.26 percent, City Developments spiked 1.87 percent, Comfort DelGro surged 2.82 percent, DBS Group jumped 1.74 percent, Genting Singapore rallied 1.28 percent, Hongkong Land skidded 0.86 percent, Keppel Corp perked 0.30 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust tumbled 1.14 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust sank 0.41 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.87 percent, SATS accelerated 1.79 percent, SembCorp Industries strengthened 1.42 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 0.41 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.50 percent, SingTel skyrocketed 3.41 percent, Thai Beverage was down 0.72 percent, United Overseas Bank climbed 0.97 percent, Wilmar International advanced 0.73 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 2.11 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding added 0.56 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and DFI Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and picked up steam ad the day progressed, finishing near session highs.

The Dow spiked 516.91 points or 1.61 percent to finish at 32,637.10, while the NASDAQ surged 305..91 points or 2.68 percent to end at 11,740.65 and the S&P 500 jumped 79.11 points or 1.99 percent to close at 4,057.84.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department reported that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected last week.

In other economic news, the Commerce Department said economic activity in the U.S. slumped slightly more than estimated in the first quarter of 2022. Also, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales plummeted by much more than expected in April.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Thursday amid increasing signs of tight supply in the market ahead of the peak U.S. driving season that kicks off next week. A weak dollar and the possibility of EU sanctions on Russian oil also contributed to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $3.76 or 3.4 percent at $114.09 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will release April numbers for import, export and producer prices later today. In March, import prices jumped 22.2 percent on year, export prices surged 24.5 percent on year and producer prices spiked an annual 27.6 percent.