The Singapore stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, tumbling almost 65 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 2,960-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains negative on coronavirus fears and its effect on the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday and now the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and the property stocks.
For the day, the index plunged 57.29 points or 1.90 percent to finish at 2,960.98 after trading between 2,959.16 and 3,000.14. Volume was 1.38 billion shares worth 1.63 billion Singapore dollars. There were 362 decliners and 137 gainers.
Among the actives, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 5.23 percent, while CapitaLand plummeted 4.07 percent, DBS Group plunged 2.54 percent, Thai Beverage tumbled 2.50 percent, United Overseas Bank skidded 2.27 percent, Wilmar International retreated 2.22 percent, Ascendas REIT declined 2.03 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation dropped 2.02 percent, CapitaLand Mall Trust sank 1.98 percent, CapitaLand Commercial Trust shed 1.95 percent, Genting Singapore lost 1.90 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 1.67 percent, SingTel slid 1.34 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust dipped 1.00 percent, Mapletree Commercial Trust was down 0.87 percent and Comfort DelGro was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened sharply lower on Friday. They pulled back from sessions lows as the day progressed but still ended firmly in the red.
The Dow shed 256.50 points or 0.98 percent to end at 25,864,78, while the NASDAQ lost 162.98 points or 1.87 percent to 8,575.62 and the S&P 500 fell 51.57 points or 1.71 percent to 2,972.37. For the week, the Dow added 1.8 percent, the NASDAQ gained 0.1 percent and the S&P rose 0.6 percent.
The early selloff on Wall Street came as traders continue to worry about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Recent data points to a slowdown in new coronavirus infections in China, but the disease seems to be spreading more rapidly around the rest of the world.
The worries about the outbreak overshadowed the Labor Department's usually closely watched monthly employment report - which showed stronger than expected job growth in February, although traders view the data as old news as the coronavirus fears have ramped up only recently.
Crude oil prices plummeted to a multi-year low on Friday after OPEC's proposal for deeper output cuts was rejected by its allies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $4.62 or 10.1 percent at $41.28 a barrel, the lowest settlement since August 2016.
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