The Singapore stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the five-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 150 points or 4.8 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,130-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on recession fears and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the oversold Asian bourses figure to split the difference.
The STI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financial shares and industrials were capped by weakness from the property sector.
For the day, the index added 15.16 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 3,130.24 after trading between 3,098.24 and 3,137.06. Volume was 1.51 billion shares worth 1.69 billion Singapore dollars. There were 268 gainers and 261 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT jumped 1.51 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust soared 2.13 percent, CapitaLand Investment surged 2.36 percent, City Developments eased 0.13 percent, Comfort DelGro declined 0.75 percent, DBS Group rallied 1.40 percent, Emperador tumbled 1.01 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 1.29 percent, Hongkong Land slumped 0.67 percent, Keppel Corp perked 0.29 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust improved 1.18 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust gained 0.42 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.65 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation advanced 1.02 percent, SATS plunged 1.95 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.33 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering spiked 1.99 percent, SingTel fell 0.37 percent, Thai Beverage plummeted 3.23 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.11 percent, Wilmar International lost 0.52 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding increased 0.98 percent and Yangzijiang Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages hugged the line through the first half of Friday's trade but headed firmly south in the afternoon, closing near daily lows.
The Dow plummeted 500.09 points or 1.71 percent to finish at 28,725.51, while the NASDAQ tumbled 161.88 points or 1.51 percent to close at 10.575.62 and the S&P 500 dropped 54.85 points or 1.51 percent to end at 3,585.62.
For the week, the NASDAQ dove 2.7 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both plunged 2.9 percent. The major averages also posted steep losses for the month and the quarter.
The extended sell-off on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about the global economic outlook amid aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks around the world.
Adding to the negative sentiment, a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve showed an acceleration in the pace of core consumer price growth in August. The faster rate of price growth may lead the Fed to maintain is aggressive stance regarding future rate hikes.
Crude oil futures failed to hold early gains and settled lower on Friday as worries about the outlook for energy demand weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $1.74 or 2.1 percent at $79.49 a barrel.