Additional Support Anticipated For Singapore Shares

The Singapore stock market om Friday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 40 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just shy of the 2,540-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on optimism for economic recovery, although a rising number of coronavirus cases may limit the upside. The European markets were down on Friday and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

For the day, the index advanced 19.82 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 2,539.63 after trading between 2,532.41 and 2,573.49. Volume was 2.41 billion shares worth 1.2 billion Singapore dollars. There were 228 gainers and 208 decliners.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Commercial Trust surged 2.50 percent, while CapitaLand Mall Trust soared 2.15 percent, SATS spiked 1.71 percent, DBS Group accelerated 1.47 percent, Dairy Farm International tumbled 1.41 percent, Singapore Airlines jumped 1.38 percent, Comfort DelGro climbed 1.33 percent, Keppel Corp gathered 1.31 percent, City Developments perked 1.27 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation advanced 1.16 percent, CapitaLand rallied 1.09 percent, SembCorp Industries advanced 1.08 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust added 0.98 percent, Venture Corporation dropped 0.95 percent, Singapore Exchange and Singapore Press Holdings both gained 0.93 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.92 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.87 percent, Thai Beverage increased 0.82 percent, Genting Singapore added 0.71 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding sank 0.55 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust gained 0.52 percent, Wilmar International rose 0.45 percent, SingTel improved 0.44 percent, Ascendas REIT was up 0.30 percent and Hongkong Land was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks moved higher on Friday, sending the NASDAQ and S&P 500 to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 161.60 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 28,653.87, while the NASDAQ gained 70.30 points or 0.60 percent to end at 11,695.63 and the S&P 500 rose 23.46 points or 0.67 percent to close at 3,508.01. For the week, the Dow gained 2.6 percent, the NASDAQ rose 3.4 percent and the S&P was up 3.3 percent.

The support on Wall Street came as traders continued to digest Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's announcement of the central bank's adoption of average inflation targeting. Powell's comments on Thursday were seen as an indication the Fed will leave interest rates at near-zero levels for the foreseeable future even if there is an acceleration in the pace of inflation.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected increase in personal income in July. Also, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment in the U.S. improved by more than estimated in August.

Crude oil prices ended slightly lower on Friday, as worries about the near-term energy demand outlook amid a surge in new coronavirus cases weighed on the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $0.07 or 0.2 percent at $42.97 a barrel.

Closer to home, Singapore will see July figures for bank lending later today; in June, lending was at SGD680.4 billion.