Singapore Bourse May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 50 points or 1 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 4,950-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on soaring crude oil prices and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index shed 18.74 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 4,948.87 after trading between 4,931.98 and 4,975.33.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust rallied 0.84 percent, while CapitaLand Investment skidded 1.07 percent, City Developments declined 1.29 percent, DBS Group eased 0.12 percent, DFI Retail Group slumped 1.12 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 0.73 percent, Hongkong Land plummeted 3.14 percent, Keppel DC REIT gained 0.43 percent, Keppel Ltd retreated 1.35 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust tumbled 1.47 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust added 0.50 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust advanced 0.83 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation shed 0.60 percent, SATS fell 0.27 percent, Seatrium Limited lost 0.42 percent, SembCorp Industries was down 0.16 percent, Singapore Airlines rose 0.15 percent, Singapore Exchange stumbled 1.53 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering tanked 1.80 percent, SingTel jumped 1.17 percent, Thai Beverage contracted 1.14 percent, United Overseas Bank perked 0.05 percent, UOL Group sank 0.70 percent, Venture Corporation spiked 1.27 percent, Wilmar International plunged 2.31 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Friday and continued to weaken as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 443.96 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 45,577.47, while the NASDAQ plunged 443.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 21,647.61 and the S&P 500 sank 100.01 points or 1.51 percent to end at 6,506.48. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 2.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.9 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid continued volatility by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions and showed wild swings over the course of the day.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday as fresh attacks on Kuwait by Iran renewed concerns of a prolonged gulf war, stoking production disruption worries. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up by $1.68 or 1.75 percent at $97.82 per barrel.

Oil prices remain sharply higher compared to when the war began, fueling concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates. CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates the Federal Reserve is not likely to cut interest rates this year and there's a chance rates could even be higher by the end of the year.

Closer to home, Singapore will release February figures for consumer prices later today. In January, overall inflation was down 0.5 percent on month and up 1.4 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 1.0 percent.