Singapore Bourse May Extend Thursday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market on Thursday snapped the four-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 100 points or 2.1 percent to a record closing high. The Straight Times Index now sits just beneath the 4,740-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity ahead of key U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and roughly flat and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The STI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the industrials, gains from the properties and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index fell 8.55 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 4,739.07 after trading between 4,726.18 and 4,763.04.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT sank 0.35 percent, while CapitaLand Investment soared 2.16 percent, City Developments rallied 1.49 percent, DBS Group stumbled 1.82 percent, DFI Retail Group gained 0.51 percent, Hongkong Land surged 3.45 percent, Keppel DC REIT declined 0.90 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.57 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust slumped 0.68 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rose 0.48 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust advanced 0.75 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.55 percent, SATS skidded 0.52 percent, Seatrium Limited dropped 0.45 percent, SembCorp Industries retreated 0.99 percent, Singapore Airlines shed 0.31 percent, Singapore Exchange plummeted 2.20 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering climbed 1.12 percent, SingTel spiked 1.82 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 1.08 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.03 percent, UOL Group jumped 1.64 percent, Wilmar International was up 0.32 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding contracted 0.82 percent and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Genting Singapore were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and spent much of the day on opposite sides of the line and ending the same way.

The Dow climbed 270.03 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 49,266.11, while the NASDAQ sank 104.26 points or 0.44 percent to end at 23,480.02 and the S&P 500 perked 0.51 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,921.44.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The jobs data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its January 27-28 meeting but is seen as likely to cut rates by at least another quarter point in the coming months.

Ahead of the monthly jobs report, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged up slightly less than expected last week.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Thursday as data showed a decline in the U.S. crude inventories, offsetting global oversupply concerns and supporting prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.70 or 3.04 percent at $57.69 per barrel.