The Singapore stock market turned lower again on Friday, one session after it had ended the three-day slide in which it had fallen nearly 40 points or 1.1 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,530-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on global trade uncertainties and a stall in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower on Friday and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the properties and industrials were tempered by support from the financials and a mixed picture from the plantation stocks.
For the day, the index sank 7.49 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 3,529.27 after trading between 3,517.73 and 3,534.55. Volume was 1.6 billion shares worth 1.1 billion Singapore dollars. There were 222 decliners and 164 gainers.
Among the actives, Hutchison Port Holdings plummeted 4.48 percent, while Golden Agri-Resources plunged 2.90 percent, CapitaLand Mall Trust tumbled 0.96 percent, Wilmar International jumped 0.94 percent, SingTel fell 0.87 percent, CapitaLand skidded 0.84 percent, Genting Singapore dropped 0.76 percent, Thai Beverage declined 0.63 percent, Keppel Corp shed 0.61 percent, CapitaLand Commercial Trust lost 0.58 percent, DBS Group collected 0.52 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding retreated 0.47 percent, United Overseas Bank added 0.10 percent and Comfort DelGro, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, SembCorp Industries and Ascendas REIT were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks showed a lack of direction on Friday, extending the lackluster performance in the previous session before finishing mixed.
The Dow added 1.11 points or 0.01 percent to 24,715.09, the NASDAQ fell 28.13 points or 0.38 percent to 7,354.34 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.16 points or 0.26 percent to 2,712.97. For the week, the NASDAQ slid 0.7 percent and the Dow and the S&P 500 both fell 0.5 percent.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front. Uncertainty about the outcome of the second round of trade talks between the U.S. and China also kept some traders on the sidelines.
Earlier, President Donald Trump expressed some doubt about whether the high-level trade talks with China will be successful. Trump told reporters he doubts the talks will be successful in remarks during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Crude oil futures were flat Friday, clinging to gains amid speculation OPEC supplies are dwindling. WTI light sweet crude oil was at $71.28/bbl, down 21 cents or 0.3 percent. Still, oil posted a weekly gain of nearly 1 percent, touching a fresh four-year peak along the way.
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Market Analysis
April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.