Bargain Hunting May Boost Singapore Stock Market

The Singapore stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 65 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,570-point plateau although it’s due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement amidst a lack of catalysts. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished slightly lower again on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index fell 8.87 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 3,573.36 after trading between 3,559.86 and 3,583.60.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.47 percent, while CapitaLand Investment rallied 2.67 percent, City Developments climbed 1.31 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.66 percent, DBS Group tumbled 1.83 percent, DFI Retail skyrocketed 9.55 percent, Genting Singapore spiked 3.59 percent, Hongkong Land advanced 1.10 percent, Keppel Ltd strengthened 1.38 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust accelerated 2.74 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust increased 0.81 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust jumped 1.39 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dropped 0.79 percent, SATS slumped 0.83 percent, Seatrium Limited stumbled 1.70 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering added 0.65 percent, SingTel fell 0.31 percent, Thai Beverage improved 0.95 percent, Wilmar International surged 7.01 percent, Yangzijiang Financial soared 5.56 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding plummeted 6.34 percent and Emperador, Keppel DC REIT, SembCorp Industries and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but wound up mixed and little changed.

The Dow climbed 137.89 points or 0.33 percent to finish at a record 42,313,00, while the NASDAQ slumped 70.70 points or 0.39 percent to close at 18,119.59 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.20 points or 0.13 percent to end at 5,738.17. For the week, the NASDAQ climbed 1.0 percent and the Dow and S&P both rose 0.6 percent.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came following the release of closely watched readings on U.S. consumer price inflation in August.

The Commerce Department said its personal consumption expenditures price index inched up by 0.1 percent in August after rising 0.2 percent in July. The uptick matched expectations.

Oil futures closed higher on Friday as additional stimulus measures from the Chinese government eased concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.51 or at $68.18 a barrel.