The Singapore stock market has finished lower now in back-to-back sessions, declining nearly 20 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index finished just below the 3,100-point plateau, but now traders are looking for a quick rebound at the opening of trade on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly upbeat as several of the regional bourses have been heavily oversold, with better than expected trade data from the U.S. adding to the sentiment. Gold, oil and financial stocks figure to lead the way, although property stocks may weigh. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly higher, and the Asian markets are tipped to follow suit.
The STI finished slightly lower on Thursday, nudged into the red by softness from the financials and industrials.
For the day, the index fell 5.41 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 3,097.57 after trading between 3,096.08 and 3,114.30. Volume was 1.15 billion shares worth 1.03 billion Singapore dollars. There were 229 decliners and 179 gainers.
Among the actives, Neptune Orient Lines shed 1.8 percent and Singapore Airlines jumped 1.6 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is finally positive as stocks moved mostly higher on Thursday, with traders going bargain hunting following the selling seen in recent sessions, which pulled the major averages down to two-month lows. The markets also benefited from positive sentiment generated by upbeat trade data.
Buying interest was generated by a report from the Commerce Department showing that the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in April as the value of exports rose to a record high. The report showed that the trade deficit narrowed to $43.7 billion in April from a revised $46.8 billion in March. Economists had expected the trade deficit to widen to $49.0 billion from the $48.2 billion originally reported for the previous month.
The unexpectedly narrower deficit came as the value of exports rose by 1.3 percent to a record high of $175.6 billion, while the value of imports fell 0.5 percent to $219.2 billion. The drop in the value of imports was largely due to reduced imports from Japan as a result of the recent earthquake.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a separate report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended June 4. Jobless claims edged up to 427,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 426,000, while economists had expected claims to slip to 418,000 from the 422,000 originally reported for the previous week.
In corporate news, shares of Texas Instruments (TXN) turned higher over the course of the trading session even though the chip maker lowered its second quarter guidance. The company attributed the reduced guidance to weak demand from a single customer.
The major averages pulled back well off their highs going into the close but remained in positive territory. The Dow rose 75.42 points or 0.6 percent to 12,124.46, the NASDAQ climbed 9.49 points or 0.4 percent to 2,684.87 and the S&P 500 advanced 9.44 points or 0.7 percent to 1,289.00.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.