The Singapore stock market has finished lower in seven straight sessions, sinking more than 110 points or 3.6 percent to a fresh 19-month closing low. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,040-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on rising fears of recession and higher interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished barely lower on Friday following losses from the industrials, support from the financials and a mixed picture from the property sector.
For the day, the index eased 0.84 points or 0.03 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,039.61 after peaking at 3,078.17. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 1.2 billion Singapore dollars. There were 255 decliners and 251 gainers.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gained 0.38 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust skidded 1.08 percent, CapitaLand Investment lost 0.62 percent, City Developments fell 0.40 percent, Comfort DelGro sank 0.78 percent, DBS Group climbed 1.41 percent, Genting Singapore shed 0.64 percent, Hongkong Land rose 0.23 percent, Keppel Corp retreated 1.18 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plummeted 2.98 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust plunged 2.16 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust declined 1.34 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was up 0.09 percent, SembCorp Industries tanked 1.71 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dropped 0.92 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.42 percent, Wilmar International slumped 1.12 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tumbled 1.41 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 1.74 percent and Emperador, SingTel, Thai Beverage, SATS and Keppel DC REIT were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly nosedived into the red and finished with deep losses.
The Dow tumbled 403.87 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 29,634.83, while the NASDAQ plunged 327.81 points or 3.08 percent to close at 10,321.39 and the S&P 500 sank 86.84 points or 2.37 percent to end at 3,583.07.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.5 percent.
The sharp pullback on Wall Street extended the volatility on Thursday, when stocks recovered from an early sell-off to close sharply higher. But renewed selling pressure was generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing a rebound in inflation expectations in October.
Traders also reacted to earnings news from several big-name financial companies as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) reported better than expected revenues, while Morgan Stanley (MS) missed estimates.
Crude oil prices plummeted on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $3.50 or 3.9 percent at $85.61 a barrel.
Closer to home, Singapore will provide September numbers for non-oil domestic exports later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 2.1 percent on month and an increase of 7.1 percent on year. That follows the 3.9 percent monthly decline and the 11.4 percent yearly gain in August.
