The Singapore stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 55 points or 1.7 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,100-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, thanks to encouraging economic and earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were up sharply and the Asian bourses figure to open in a similar fashion.
The STI finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the properties and industrials, while the financials were soft.
For the day, the index rose 8.52 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 3,099.15 after trading between 3,088.25 and 3,108.22. Volume was 1.1 billion shares worth 909.9 million Singapore dollars. There were 234 gainers and 234 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT collected 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust climbed 0.96 percent, CapitaLand Investment and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation both fell 0.27 percent, City Developments perked 0.13 percent, Comfort DelGro advanced 0.71 percent, DBS Group shed 0.44 percent, Genting Singapore skyrocketed 7.33 percent, Hongkong Land dipped 0.21 percent, Keppel Corp tumbled 0.78 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.38 percent, SATS rose 0.50 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.68 percent, Singapore Exchange gained 0.51 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering slumped 0.49 percent, SingTel soared 1.92 percent, Thai Beverage surged 3.15 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.04 percent, Wilmar International jumped 1.00 percent, Yangzijiang Financial spiked 1.25 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Jardine Cycle both added 0.56 percent and Mapletree Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Keppel DC REIT and DFI Retail were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained firmly in the green throughout the session.
The Dow surged 658.09 points or 2.15 percent to finish at 31,288.26, while the NASDAQ spiked 201.24 points or 1.79 percent to end at 11,452.42 and the S&P 500 jumped 72.78 points or 1.92 percent to close at 3,863.16.
For the week, the NASDAQ slumped by 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 slid by 0.9 percent and the Dow edged down by 0.2 percent.
A positive reaction to the latest earnings news contributed to the rally on Wall Street, fueled by the likes of Citigroup (C) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which exceeded expectations.
In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales jumped more than expected last month. Also, the University of Michigan unexpectedly showed a modest improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in July. And the Labor Department said U.S. import prices crept up much less than expected in June.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday, buoyed by reports that an increase in Saudi oil output is unlikely for now. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.81 or 1.9 percent at $97.59 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed nearly 7 percent in the week.
Closer to home, Singapore will see June figures for non-oil domestic exports later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 2.3 percent on month and 6.7 percent on year. That follows the 3.2 percent monthly increase and the 12.4 annual spike in May - when the trade surplus was SGD3.243 billion.