To The Moon

The Singapore stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 65 points or 2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,290-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns for the global economy and for the outlook for interest rates, with technology stocks particularly likely to slide. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure 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 retreated 51.68 points or 1.55 percent to finish at 3,291.89 after trading between 3,289.92 and 3,305.72. Volume was 1.60 billion shares worth 1.53 billion Singapore dollars. There were 348 decliners and 54 gainers.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT eased 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust plunged 3.03 percent, CapitaLand Investment fell 0.75 percent, City Developments and Keppel Corp both stumbled 1.59 percent, Dairy Farm International and Thai Beverage both tumbled 2.14 percent, DBS Group retreated 1.58 percent, Genting Singapore slumped 1.24 percent, Hongkong Land tanked 2.28 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust was down 0.53 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.79 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust declined 1.71 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation plummeted 3.32 percent, SATS dropped 1.11 percent, SembCorp Industries dipped 0.67 percent, Singapore Exchange surrendered 1.94 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering skidded 1.23 percent, SingTel slid 0.72 percent, United Overseas Bank sank 1.14 percent, Wilmar International shed 0.91 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 2.13 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Comfort DelGro were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages spent most of Friday bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally settling in the red.

The Dow dropped 98.63 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 32,899.37, while the NASDAQ tumbled 173.04 points or 1.40 percent to end at 12,144.66 and the S&P 500 sank 23.53 points or 0.57 percent to close at 4,123.34. For the week, the NASDAQ slumped 1.5 percent and the Dow and the S&P both eased 0.2 percent.

The lower close on Wall Street followed the closely watched Labor Department report showing stronger than expected job growth in April.

With the report showing continued strength in the labor market, economists predicted the Federal Reserve will now continue with its plans to raise interest rates sharply over the coming months.

Worries about the outlook for interest rates may have weighed on Wall Street along with a continued increase in treasury yields.

Crude oil prices closed higher on Friday, and posted a weekly gain as well, amid worries about supply following the European Union's decision proposing some of its toughest measures yet against Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $1.51 or 1.4 percent at $109.77 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained nearly 5 percent in the week.