Singapore Stocks May Inch Forward Again

The Singapore stock market has extended its winning streak to three days, and now analysts predict that the Straits Times Index could modestly add to those gains on Friday. The market is likely to trade in a tight range, thanks to the mixed message from Wall Street overnight.

Lacking any fresh leads, the global cues could cool market activity somewhat after a few standout performances earlier in the week. There were several mixed economic and corporate reports out of the U.S., but not really enough to drive the market lower.

The market was slightly higher on Thursday in light volume, mirroring the rise on Wall Street overnight, led by the financials.

For the day, the index gained 38.31 points or 1.26 percent to close at 3,126.30 after trading between 3,126.30 and 3,152.54. Volume was 1.42 billion shares worth 1.77 billion Singapore dollars. There were 373 gainers and 263 decliners, with 944 stocks remaining unchanged.

Banks and properties continued their rebound to set the pace on Thursday as DBS Group was up 0.6 percent, United Overseas Bank added 1.3 percent and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was up 1.6 percent, while CapitaLand gained 3.36 percent, City Developments was up 1.7 percent and Keppel Land added 1.9 percent.

Among the other gainers, Keppel Corp climbed 4.5 percent, SembCorp Marine jumped 3.8 percent, StarHub gained 2.3 percent, KSH Holdings was up 15.2 percent, Singapore Airlines added 0.5 percent, Singapore Exchange rose 2.1 percent and Straits Asia Resources Ltd. climbed 2.1 percent. Singapore Telecom was flat, and MobileOne fell 1.0 percent.

Wall Street provides a virtually flat lead as some good news lifted market sentiment, while some bad news held the gains in check. Concerns over the economy rose after the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that activity in the Philadelphia-area manufacturing sector saw continued weakness in the month of April, with the pace of contraction in the sector unexpectedly accelerating.

But the Conference Board released its report on leading economic indicators in the month of March, showing that its leading index increased in line with economist estimates following five consecutive monthly declines. Also, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended April 12, showing that jobless claims rebounded in line with economists' expectations after showing a considerable decline in the previous week.

Among corporate data, investors spent the day looking over quarterly results from several companies, including IBM (IBM), Merrill Lynch (MER), Pfizer (PFE) and United Technologies (UTX).

The Dow and S&P 500 showed throughout the day, climbing above the unchanged line in the afternoon, while the Nasdaq spent the entire session in negative territory. While the Dow closed up 1.22 points or 0.01 percent at 12,620.49 and the S&P 500 closed up 0.85 points or 0.1 percent at 1,365.56, the Nasdaq closed down 8.28 points or 0.4 percent at 2,341.83.

In economic news, Singapore's seasonally adjusted non-oil domestic exports declined 6% on month in March, following a 1.4% decrease in the preceding month, the International Enterprise Singapore reported Thursday. On an annual basis, NODX decreased 5.9%, reversing February's revised 6.2% increase, due to a fall in both electronic and non-electronic NODX. Exports to Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong registered increases in the month of March and that to the rest of the top 10 NODX markets recorded decreases. The largest contributors to the NODX contraction were the EU, the U.S. and Malaysia.

Also, non-oil re-exports fell 1.1% year-on-year in March, compared to 6.7% increase in February. The International Enterprise explained the fall was due to contraction in electronic NORX. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, NORX declined 3%, slower than 6.6% decrease in the prior month.

However, Singapore's total trade grew 11% year-on-year in March, significantly slower than the 19% increase seen in February. Total exports rose 4.4% on an annual basis, sharply slower than the previous month's 18% increase. Total imports accelerated 18%, following a 20% expansion in February.

In corporate news, Bursa Malaysia and Singapore's MobileOne will report first quarter numbers on Friday, while Singapore's Ascendas REIT will announce year to March results.