The Singapore stock market on Friday snapped the modest two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,590-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and fairly flat and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.
The STI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, trusts and property stocks, while the industrials came in mixed.
For the day, the index fell 11.54 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 3,593.41 after trading between 3,582.36 and 3,604.54.
Among the actives, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 0.98 percent, CapitaLand Investment tanked 1.03 percent, City Developments eased 0.19 percent, DBS Group slid 0.38 percent, Genting Singapore shed 0.60 percent, Hongkong Land fell 0.51 percent, Keppel DC REIT advanced 0.85 percent, Keppel Ltd added 0.62 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plummeted 4.96 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.83 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust sank 0.72 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation lost 0.52 percent, SATS surged 7.22 percent, Seatrium Limited tumbled 1.02 percent, SembCorp Industries plunged 1.13 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering gained 0.43 percent, SingTel rose 0.31 percent, Thai Beverage declined 0.94 percent, Wilmar International slumped 0.91 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding improved 0.78 percent and Comfort DelGro, Emperador, Yangzijiang Financial and DFI Retail were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street again offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but slumped as the day progressed to end mixed.
The Dow stumbled 259.96 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 42,114.40, while the NASDAQ added 103.12 points or 0.56 percent to close at 18,518.61 and the S&P 500 eased 1.74 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,808.12.
For the week, the Dow tumbled 2.7 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 1.0 percent, but the NASDAQ rose 0.2 percent.
Stocks moved mostly higher early in the session amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for the economy after the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment unexpectedly improved in October.
Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as treasury yields rebounded following Thursdays pullback amid lingering concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates slower than previously anticipated.
Oil prices rose sharply on Friday amid worries about geopolitical tensions and for potential output adjustments from OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.69 or 2.3 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 3.8 percent in the week.