The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in consecutive trading days, gathering more than 100 points or 3 percent along the way. The Straits Times index now rests just above the 3,440-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets if broadly negative thanks to escalating concerns over a trade war between the United States and China. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The STI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financials, properties and industrials.
For the day, the index jumped 36.85 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 3,442.50 after trading between 3,384.26 and 3,449.40 on volume of 2 billion shares. There were 225 decliners and 197 gainers.
Among the actives, Hutchison Port Holdings surged 6.45 percent, while Genting Singapore soared 5.56 percent, Wilmar International spiked 1.94 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation jumped 1.59 percent, Ascendas REIT climbed 1.51 percent, United Overseas Bank advanced 1.48 percent, DBS Group collected 1.39 percent, SingTel perked 1.18 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Starhub both gathered 0.87 percent, CapitaLand added 0.84 percent, Keppel Corp gained 0.65 percent, CapitaLand Commercial Trust slid 0.55 percent, Comfort DelGro was up 0.48 percent and Golden Agri-Resources, Thai Beverage, SembCorp Industries and CapitaLand Mall Trust all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as stocks moved sharply lower on Friday when trade war concerns resurfaced. After closing higher for three straight days, the major averages showed a substantial move back to the downside.
The Dow shed 572.46 points or 2.34 percent to 23,932.76, while the NASDAQ lost 161.44 points or 2.28 percent to 6,915.11 and the S&P 500 fell 58.37 points or 2.19 percent to 2,604.47. For the week, the NASDAQ lost 2.1 percent, the S&P slumped 1.4 percent and the Dow slid 0.7 percent.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid renewed trade war concerns after President Donald Trump threatened to impose $100 billion of additional tariffs on Chinese imports.
Negative sentiment was also when the Labor Department said U.S. job growth slowed much more than anticipated in March., while the jobless rate held steady when it was expected to fall.
Stocks saw further downside when Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that further gradual increases in interest rates would best promote the Fed's goals of maximum employment and stable prices, eschewing a slower pace of rate hikes.
Crude oil futures fell sharply Friday along with U.S. stocks. The threat of a trade war with China has impacted the U.S. economic outlook, and created demand worries in the oil patch. Nymex May oil futures fell $1.48 to $63.54 a barrel, down 2.3 percent.
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Market Analysis
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.