The Singapore stock market on Friday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index sits just beneath the 3,430-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative due to the ongoing uncertainty created by fears that Russia will imminently invade Ukraine. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and industrials, while the properties were mixed.
For the day, the index slipped 12.67 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 3,428.90 after trading between 3,427.66 and 3,447.39. Volume was 1.3 billion shares worth 1.2 billion Singapore dollars. There were 259 gainers and 226 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gained 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.47 percent, City Developments added 0.41 percent, Dairy Farm International tumbled 1.39 percent, DBS Group fell 0.22 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 0.64 percent, Hongkong Land plunged 2.28 percent, Keppel Corp skidded 0.49 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust spiked 1.09 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation retreated 1.04 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 1.55 percent, Singapore Airlines rose 0.18 percent, Singapore Exchange lost 0.31 percent, SingTel sank 0.39 percent, Thai Beverage surged 2.90 percent, United Overseas Bank declined 0.88 percent, Wilmar International slumped 0.42 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Singapore Technologies Engineering, SATS, Singapore Press Holdings and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained that way through most of the session, ending firmly in the red.
The Dow dropped 232.85 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 34,079.18, while the NASDAQ tumbled 168.65 points or 1.23 percent to close at 13,548.07 and the S&P 500 lost 31.39 points or 0.72 percent to end at 4,348.87. For the week, the Dow dropped 1.9 percent, the NASDAQ sank 1.8 percent and the S&P fell 1.6 percent.
The sustained weakness on Wall Street came amid lingering geopolitical concerns as the Ukrainian government and Russian state-controlled media continued to exchanged accusations of cease-fire violations in the eastern part of the country.
Uncertainty about the outlook for monetary policy also continued to weigh on the markets ahead of an anticipated interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.
In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors reported a sharp increase in existing home sales last month. Also, the Conference Board showed an unexpected pullback by its leading U.S. economic indicators in January.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday amid signs of negotiations to restore the Iran nuclear deal. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.69 or 0.36 percent at $91.07 a barrel. WTI futures shed 2.2 percent in the week.
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