Over the past three trading days, the Singapore stock market has shown an upward trend, with victories on two out of three of these days. This follows a three-day phase of losses, during which the market dropped almost 35 points, reflecting a decrease of 1.1 percent. Currently, the Straits Times Index (STI) is just below the 3,150-point mark, but indications hint at a possible decline in the upcoming Monday trading.
Considering the global forecasts, it seems that Asian markets may be somewhat weak, particularly in the energy and technology sectors. This is supported by the mixed and generally static performance of European markets, and the predominantly negative performance of U.S. markets.
On the final trading day of the week, Friday, the STI posted a modest gain. This was due to positive performances from property stocks and mixed performances from financial shares and industrials. To be precise, the index increased by 13.31 points or 0.42 percent, ending at 3,147.09. The day's trading range was between 3,142.70 and 3,157.48.
Key active stocks include Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, and CapitaLand Investment, which all demonstrated increases. Concluding the Wall Street roundup, the major averages started strongly on Friday but experienced a fall, resulting in a negative close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 38.722.69, down 68.71 points or 0.18 percent. The NASDAQ Composite fell by 188.29 points or 1.16 percent, to close at 16,085.11, and the S&P 500 finished at 5,123.69, dropping 33.67 points or 0.65 percent. Over the course of the week, the NASDAQ fell by 1.2 percent, the Dow Jones lost 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 declined by 0.3 percent.
Optimism regarding interest rates was spurred by the closely watched monthly jobs report released by the US Labor Department. Despite job growth in February being much higher than anticipated, the report also showed significant downward revisions to job growth in the preceding two months.
The unanticipated increase in unemployment rates, coupled with a slowing annual wage growth rate, has fostered hope that the Federal Reserve may start reducing interest rates as early as June. However, with key inflation data set to be released this week, market participants seemed cautious to continue stock purchases.
Uncertain demand outlooks, especially in China due to a noted drop in oil imports during the year’s first two months, led to a decrease in oil prices on Friday. Specifically, the West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell by $0.92 or 1.2 percent, to close the week at $78.01 per barrel, marking a weekly loss of 2.5 percent.
