The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six sessions since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 270 points
The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six sessions since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 270 points or 12 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 2,450-point plateau and now it’s got a solid lead for Friday’s trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is firm thanks to major support from crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and industrial issues, while the property sector weighed.
For the day, the index rose 12.76 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 2,453.03 after trading between 2,390.88 and 2,453.81. Volume was 1.49 billion shares worth 1.56 billion Singapore dollars. There were 229 gainers and 210 decliners.
Among the actives, Mapletree Commercial Trust plummeted 7.43 percent, while Singapore Press Holdings plunged 6.74 percent, CapitaLand Mall Trust tanked 6.36 percent, Ascendas REIT tumbled 5.34 percent, Wilmar International surged 4.70 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust skidded 4.49 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding spiked 4.19 percent, Thai Beverage accelerated 4.17 percent, Keppel Corp jumped 4.16 percent, SingTel climbed 3.97 percent, Genting Singapore sank 2.92 percent, CapitaLand Commercial Trust shed 2.05 percent, Singapore Exchange advanced 1.86 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation added 1.65 percent, United Overseas Bank gained 1.47 percent, DBS Group collected 1.43 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 1.31 percent and Comfort DelGro and Singapore Technologies Engineering were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks fluctuated throughout much of Thursday’s trade before surging into the close.
The Dow jumped 469.93 points or 2.24 percent to finish at 21,413.44, while the NASDAQ climbed 126.73 points or 1.72 percent to 7,487.31 and the S&P 500 spiked 56.40 points or 2.28 percent to 2,526.90.
The higher close on Wall Street was due in large part to strength among energy stocks, which moved sharply higher along with the price of crude oil.
Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Thursday amid hopes the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia would end soon. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended up $5.01 or 25 percent at $25.32 a barrel.
The strength that emerged came even though the Labor Department reported a record spike in initial jobless claims last week. In the past two weeks, nearly 10 million people have filed for unemployment, which economists say translates to an unemployment rate of about 10 percent.
