The Singapore stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,260-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asianmarketssuggests mild downside on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.
The STI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and property stocks, while the industrials offered support.
For the day, the index skidded 33.59 points or 1.02 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,259.14 after peaking at 3,287.23. Volume was 1.2 billion shares worth 1.11 billion Singapore dollars. There were 254 gainers and 241 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT surrendered 2.14 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust declined 1.94 percent, CapitaLand Investment and United Overseas Bank both stumbled 1.34 percent, City Developments eased 0.12 percent, DBS Group slumped 1.37 percent, Emperador improved 1.03 percent, Keppel Corp gained 0.79 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust plummeted 2.94 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust tumbled 2.22 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust retreated 1.84 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation skidded 1.13 percent, SATS plunged 2.91 percent, SembCorp Industries advanced 1.23 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering dropped 0.58 percent, SingTel rose 0.37 percent, Thai Beverage sank 0.78 percent, Wilmar International added 0.49 percent, Yangzijiang Financial tanked 2.82 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding climbed 1.43 percent and Comfort DelGro, Genting Singapore and Hongkong Land were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday but improved all session, finally ending mixed but little changed.
The Dow rose 34.87 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,429.88, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.95 points or 0.18 percent to close at 11,461.50 and the S&P 500 fell 4.87 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,071.70.
The early weakness on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which showed stronger than expected job growth in November.
While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has added to lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.
The Federal Reserve is likely to slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month, but continued labor market tightness may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated.
Crude oil futures slumped on Friday ahead of OPEC's meeting over the weekend and the European Unio's cap of Russian crude. West Texas Intermediate shed 1.24 per 1,5 percent to $79.98 per barrel.