Continued Consolidation Called For Singapore Shares

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has inched lower in consecutive trading days, although it has given up just 2 points or 0.02 percent in that span. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 4,636-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for little movement with perhaps a touch of weakness in thin trade between the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The STI finished barely lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index dipped 0.19 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 4,636.15 after trading between 4,621.10 and 4,647.45.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT gathered 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Investment dropped 0.37 percent, City Developments stumbled 1.12 percent, DBS Group fell 0.12 percent, DFI Retail Group advanced 0.76 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 0.86 percent, Keppel Ltd retreated 0.97 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 0.69 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gained 0.49 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.15 percent, SATS expanded 0.27 percent, Seatrium Limited rose 0.47 percent, SembCorp Industries sank 0.17 percent, Singapore Airlines improved 0.16 percent, Singapore Exchange retreated 0.75 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering picked up 0.24 percent, SingTel added 0.66 percent, Thai Beverage jumped 1.10 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.29 percent, UOL Group eased 0.11 percent, Wilmar International was up 0.32 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding tumbled 0.86 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Keppel DC REIT, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests slight consolidation as the major averages hugged the line on Friday and finished very slightly under water.

The Dow shed 29,19 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 48,710.97, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.21 points or 0.09 percent to close at 23,593.10 and the S&P 500 eased 2.11 points or 0.03 percent to end at 6,929.94.

For the week, the S&P 500 shot up 1.4 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both jumped 1.2 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, leading to below average trading activity.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves following the recent upward trend, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday on supply concerns due to the intensifying conflict between the United States and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $1.41 or 2.42 percent at $56.94 per barrel.