The Singapore stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the six-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 200 points or 6.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now sits just above the 3,100-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on coronavirus and economic concerns, with oil and technology stocks likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets finished solidly under water and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the industrials and properties, while the financials were mixed.
For the day, the index rose 9.82 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 3,101.93 after trading between 3,080.29 and 3,109.64. Volume was 1.04 billion shares worth 1.13 billion Singapore dollars. There were 269 gainers and 194 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT added 0.68 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust shed 0.48 percent, City Developments and Wilmar International both advanced 0.74 percent, Comfort DelGro accelerated 2.19 percent, Dairy Farm International and Genting Singapore both jumped 2.01 percent, DBS Group lost 0.25 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.39 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation eased 0.09 percent, SATS surged 2.62 percent, SembCorp Industries soared 2.58 percent, Singapore Airlines gained 0.62 percent, Singapore Exchange spiked 2.43 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering increased 0.27 percent, Thai Beverage rallied 0.76 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.46 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 0.78 percent and Mapletree Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Singapore Press Holdings and SingTel were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but quickly turned lower and spent the remainder of the day in negative territory.
The Dow shed 59/72 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 34,580.08, while the NASDAQ plummeted 295.83 points or 1.92 percent to close at 15,085.47 and the S&P 500 lost 38.67 points or 0.84 percent to end at 4,538.43. For the week, the NASDAQ tumbled 2.6 percent, the S&P lost 1.2 percent and the Dow fell 0.9 percent.
The losses extended the volatility seen throughout the week, with stocks showing wild swings in reaction to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. After the first confirmed case in the U.S. earlier in the week, the new variant has now been detected in at least five states.
Traders also reacted to the Labor Department report showing weaker than expected U.S. job growth in November, although the jobless rate fell to 4.2 percent - its lowest since February 2020.
While the disappointing job growth has raised some concerns about the economic outlook amid the emergence of the Omicron variant, the Federal Reserve is not expected to deviate from accelerating the tapering of its asset purchases.
Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower Friday amid uncertainty about the outlook for energy demand due to fresh restrictions following the spread of the new coronavirus variant Omicron in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down by $0.24 or 0.4 percent at $66.26 a barrel.