The Singapore stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 45 points or 1.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,135-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed support on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on easing virus concerns and support from crude oil. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The STI finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index slipped 6.84 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 3,135.61 after trading between 3,129.25 and 3,141.85. Volume was 1.86 billion shares worth 863.8 million Singapore dollars. There were 258 decliners and 199 gainers,
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT shed 0.34 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Mapletree Commercial Trust both slumped 0.49 percent, City Developments skidded 0.57 percent, Comfort DelGro tanked 1.42 percent, Dairy Farm International retreated 0.66 percent, DBS Group dipped 0.16 percent, Genting Singapore climbed 0.64 percent, Hongkong Land tumbled 1.08 percent, Keppel Corp gained 0.38 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust advanced 0.53 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.09 percent, SATS declined 0.76 percent, SembCorp Industries added 0.50 percent, Singapore Airlines plummeted 2.37 percent, Singapore Exchange eased 0.11 percent, Singapore Press Holdings sank 0.43 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering fell 0.26 percent, SingTel dropped 0.41 percent, Thai Beverage plunged 1.48 percent, United Overseas Bank lost 0.33 percent, Wilmar International surrendered 0.95 percent and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday, ebbed towards the break but rebounded to finish firmly higher.
The Dow jumped 216.30 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 35.970.99, while the NASDAQ climbed 113.23 points or 0.73 percent to end at 15,630.60 and the S&P 500 gained 44.57 points or 0.95 percent to close at 4,712.02. For the week, the Dow spiked 4 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 3.6 percent and the S&P jumped 3.8 percent.
The strength on Wall Street came even after the Labor Department released a report showing U.S. consumer prices surged at the fastest annual rate of in nearly 40 years in November.
While the elevated rate of inflation may lead the Federal Reserve to accelerate the pace of tapering its asset purchases next week, traders seemed relieved that the price growth was not even faster.
A separate report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. unexpectedly improved in early December.
Crude oil futures settled higher Friday on easing worries about the Omicron coronavirus variant's impact on global economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.73 or 1 percent at $71.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 8.2 percent in the week, the best weekly returns since end August.