The Singapore stock market has tracked lower in three consecutive trading days, slumping almost 70 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,175-point plateau and it's likely to see continued consolidation on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates, while financial shares are especially likely to fall under pressure. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index dropped 37.08 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 3,177.43 after trading between 3,169.80 and 3,199.94.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT eased 0.37 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust dipped 0.53 percent, CapitaLand Investment slumped 1.14 percent, City Developments slid 0.54 percent, Comfort DelGro shed 0.83 percent, DBS Group skidded 0.93 percent, DFI Retail plummeted 3.86 percent, Genting Singapore weakened 0.95 percent, Hongkong Land sank 0.89 percent, Keppel Corp dropped 0.91 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust stumbled 1.19 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust was down 0.44 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust lost 0.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation surrendered 1.36 percent, SATS tanked 2.02 percent, SembCorp Industries added 0.53 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.58 percent, SingTel retreated 1.26 percent, United Overseas Bank plunged 2.15 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.25 percent, Yangzijiang Financial declined 1.27 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 1.50 percent and Emperador and Thai Beverage were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as the major averages spent the morning session relatively unchanged but plummeted in the afternoon, finishing near session lows.
The Dow plummeted 345.26 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,909.64, while the NASDAQ tumbled 199.51 points or 1.76 percent to close at 11,138.89 and the S&P 500 slumped 56.73 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,861.59.
The weakness on Wall Street came as concerns about the potential fallout from the implosions of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Silvergate Capital triggered a sell-off in the financial sector.
Investors also digested the crucial non-farm payroll data for the month of February. The data showing an acceleration in U.S. job growth raised concerns the Fed will continue to remain aggressive with regard to interest rate hikes.
Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday on Russia's decision to trim oil output by 500,000 barrels per day in March. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.96 or 1.3 percent at $76.68 a barrel, rebounding after three successive days of losses.