Singapore Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Friday

The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 25 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,740-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. 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 modestly lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financials, properties, trusts and industrials.

For the day, the index improved 17.82 points or 0.48 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,738.16 after moving as low as 3,699.50.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Investment sank 0.71 percent, while City Developments slumped 0.97 percent, DBS Group collected 0.56 percent, DFI Retail spiked 1.71 percent, Genting Singapore retreated 1.29 percent, Hongkong Land surged 3.64 percent, Keppel DC REIT and Mapletree Industrial Trust both gained 0.44 percent, Keppel Ltd and SingTel both fell 0.31 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust skidded 0.80 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dropped 0.78 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.29 percent, SATS added 0.54 percent, Seatrium Limited stumbled 1.56 percent, SembCorp Industries lost 0.20 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering declined 1.05 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.32 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 2.53 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.92 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Emperador, Thai Beverage and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat on Thursday but quickly fell into the red and stayed that way, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 207.33 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 43,750.86, while the NASDAQ slumped 123.07 points or 0.64 percent to close at 19,107.65 and the S&P 500 sank 36.21 points or 0.60 percent to end at 5,949.17.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street late in the session came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank does not “need to be in a hurry to lower rates” due to the strength of the economy.

Powell’s remarks came as the latest batch of U.S. economy data generated some uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

While the Fed is still widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter point next month, there is some concern that sticky inflation will lead the central bank to slow the pace of its rate cuts in early 2025.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, supported by data showing a drop in gasoline stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.27 or about 0.4 percent at $68.70 a barrel.

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