The Singapore stock market has finished higher now in back-to-back sessions, adding more than 15 points or 0.6 percent in the process. The Straits Times Index finished just above the 2,760-point plateau, but now analysts are forecasting a mild easing when the market kicks off trade on Monday.
The global forecast offers little in the way of guidance for the Asian markets as investors are expected to stand largely pat ahead of a raft of crucial economic data out of the world's largest economy this week. Commodities may see a bit of strength after some profit taking last week, while technology stocks may remain weak. The European and U.S. markets finished slightly on the soft side, and the Asian markets are also forecast to trend modestly lower.
The STI finished barely higher on Friday, nudged into positive territory by gains among the financials.
For the day, the index put on 2.75 points or 0.1 percent to finish at 2,761.54 after trading between 2,749.69 and 2,773.76. Volume was 1.15 billion shares worth 1.16 billion Singapore dollars.
Among the gainers, MobileOne added 0.6 percent and DBS up 1.8 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is mildly negative as stocks moved mostly lower on Friday, with a lack of significant economic catalysts denying traders the opportunity to cash in on recent gains. The major averages all closed in negative territory, slipping further away from Tuesday's yearly highs.
The weakness in the markets was partly due to disappointing quarterly results from computer marker Dell (DELL), which reported third quarter earnings that fell to $0.17 per share from $0.37 per share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $0.23 per share compared to analyst estimates of $0.28 per share. Revenue for the quarter fell 15 percent to $12.9 billion, coming in below analyst estimates of $13.18 billion. Looking forward, Dell said it expects fourth quarter revenue to improve over the third quarter.
Homebuilder D.R. Horton (DHI) also released results that disappointed investors, reporting a fourth quarter net loss of $0.73 per share compared to a loss of $2.53 per share in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had expected the company to report a loss of $0.30 per share.
In other corporate news, mobile phone giant Nokia Corp. (NOK) said this morning that it plans to align its research and development operations in Finland and Denmark, effectively eliminating up to 330 R&D jobs.
While the Dow briefly peeked above the unchanged line in the final hour of trading, the major averages all ended the day in the red. The Dow closed down by 14.28 points or 0.1 percent at 10,318.16, the NASDAQ fell by 10.78 points or 0.5 percent to 2,146.04 and the S&P 500 slipped by 3.52 points or 0.3 percent to 1,091.38. Amid some profit taking over the past few sessions, the major averages closed on a mixed note for the week. The Dow posted a weekly gain of 0.5 percent, while the NASDAQ fell 1.0 percent and the S&P 500 posted a more modest 0.2 percent weekly loss.
In economic news, Singapore is on Monday scheduled to announce October numbers for its consumer price index. Forecasts call for a decline of 0.5 percent on year following the 0.4 percent annual contraction in September.
Also, Singapore's domestic wholesale sales at constant prices increased 5 percent year-on-year in third quarter, faster than the 3.5 percent growth in the previous quarter. Sequentially, the domestic wholesales sales rose 2 percent in third quarter, smaller than the 8.3 percent increase in the second quarter.
The foreign wholesale sales dropped 5.4 percent on an annual basin in third quarter, after falling 3.6 percent in second quarter. Quarter-on-quarter, foreign wholesale sales slipped 2.1 percent in third quarter, in contrast to a 2.4 percent increase in the preceding quarter.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com