Higher Open Anticipated For Singapore Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long weekend for the Lunar New Year, the Singapore stock market had alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than a dozen points or 0.4 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,290-point plateau and it's expected to return to the upside on Wednesday as it catches up on misses sentiment.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with profit taking likely after recent gains - especially among the oil and technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The STI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index gained 17.53 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 3,293.71 after trading between 3,263.99 and 3,305.25.

Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gathered 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced 0.97 percent, CapitaLand Investment strengthened 1.30 percent, City Developments shed 0.37 percent, Comfort DelGro spiked 1.75 percent, DBS Group was up 0.06 percent, Emperador surged 2.00 percent, Genting Singapore accelerated 1.54 percent, Hongkong Land climbed 1.05 percent, Keppel Corp rose 0.41 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust increased 0.,43 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust soared 1.86 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 0.56 percent, SembCorp Industries rallied 1.48 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering perked 0.29 percent, Thai Beverage added 0.71 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.65 percent, Wilmar International fell 0.25 percent, Yangzijiang Financial jumped 1.39 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding improved 0.82 percent and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, SATS and SingTel were unchanged.