The Singapore stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 25 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 2,850-point plateau and it's expected to see little movement on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian is hanging on the emergence of economic stimulus in the United States, which traders hope will pass in the hours leading up to today's market open. The European and U.S, markets ended in the red on Friday and the Asian markets will have a similarly soft lead until a coronavirus relief bill passes.
The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and properties.
For the day, the index lost 9.04 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 2,848.98 after trading between 2,845.55 and 2,862.93. Volume was 1.76 billion shares worth 1.71 billion Singapore dollars. There were 222 gainers and 205 decliners.
Among the actives, Mapletree Logistics Trust surged 2.08 percent, while Comfort DelGro plummeted 1.72 percent, Dairy Farm International plunged 1.43 percent, Thai Beverage tanked 1.33 percent, Jardine Cycle tumbled 1.24 percent, Wilmar International spiked 1.16 percent, DBS Group skidded 1.10 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 0.93 percent, UOL Group declined 0.90 percent, Keppel Corp advanced 0.74 percent, SATS surrendered 0.72 percent, United Overseas Bank sank 0.70 percent, Ascendas REIT added 0.67 percent, Singapore Exchange dropped 0.65 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust shed 0.47 percent, SingTel fell 0.43 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering lost 0.26 percent, City Developments gained 0.25 percent, Singapore Airlines rose 0.23 percent, Venture Corporation slid 0.15 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was down 0.10 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Genting Singapore, SembCorp Industries, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, Singapore Press Holdings and CapitaLand all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened slightly lower on Friday and remained mostly in the red throughout the session
The Dow shed 124.35 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 30,179.05, while the NASDAQ eased 9.06 points or 0.07 percent to close at 12,755.64 and the S&P 500 fell 13.07 points or 0.35 percent to close at 3,709.41. For the week, the Dow added 0.4 percent, the NASDAQ jumped 3.1 percent and the S&P rose 1.3 percent.
The pullback on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, as traders cashed in on recent gains after Thursday's climb to record closing highs. Apprehension for a coronavirus relief bill also nudged stocks lower.
Upbeat news on the coronavirus vaccine front helped limit the downside for the markets, with an FDA advisory panel giving a positive recommendation to Moderna's (MRNA) vaccine candidate.
Crude oil futures ended higher on Friday amid dwindling inventories and on that hopes energy demand will pick up after another coronavirus vaccine got the nod from the U.S. drug regulator. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended up $0.74 or 1.5 percent at $49.10 a barrel.
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