To The Moon

The Singapore stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 100 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just beneath the 3,250-point plateau although it's expected to run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak thanks to rising crude oil prices and tumbling technology stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index added 8.93 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 3,249.66 after trading between 3,217.56 and 3,251.34. Volume was 1.21 billion shares worth 1.13 billion Singapore dollars. There were 237 gainers and 222 decliners.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT rallied 0.70 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.47 percent, City Developments surged 1.53 percent, Dairy Farm International plummeted 3.59 percent, DBS Group soared 1.12 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land tumbled 1.73 percent, Keppel Corp was up 0.49 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.55 percent, SATS rose 0.51 percent, Singapore Airlines advanced 0.60 percent, Singapore Exchange spiked 0.95 percent, Singapore Press Holdings perked 0.43 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering shed 0.49 percent, SingTel accelerated 0.78 percent, Thai Beverage slumped 0.74 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.53 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.43 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding jumped 0.71 percent and Mapletree Commercial Trust, SembCorp Industries, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but were unable to hold on to their gains and finished firmly in the red.

The Dow skidded 229.91 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 32,944.19, while the NASDAQ tumbled 286.19 points or 2.18 percent to end at 12,843.81 and the S&P 500 sank 55.21 points or 1.30 percent to close at 4.204.31. For the week, the Dow shed 2 percent, the NASDAQ lost 3.5 percent and the S&P fell 2.9 percent.

Rising worries about the economic impact of the ongoing Ukraine war and the various sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and the Western allies rendered the mood bearish.

In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a bigger than expected drop in U.S. consumer sentiment in March. The report also showed that one-year inflation expectations jumped to 5.4 percent in March from 4.9 percent in February, while five-year inflation expectations held at 3.0 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on concerns about disruptions in supply amid uncertainty about any meaningful progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $3.31 or 3.1 percent at $109.33 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 5.5 percent in the week.