SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Friday with the Straits Times Index down 4.10 points to 3,422.08 at 9.02am, after falling oil prices hit oil-linked equities on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500.
In all, some 127.2 million shares worth S$219.9 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 74 to 69.
The exchange's most active stocks were Noble Group and Golden Agri-Resources.
On resuming trading today, Noble lost six cents or 5.7 per cent to S$1. Some 22.9 million shares changed hands. It had reported a net Q4 loss of US$240 million and come under a second attack by anonymous short-seller Iceberg Research on Thursday, which led it to halt trading in its shares.
PRESSURE on the Jardine stable and the three banks on Thursday meant the Straits Times Index ended the session with a 14.65-point loss at 3,426.18. Turnover at 1.1 billion units worth S$946.2 million was below the S$1.1 billion averages seen in the past few days. Excluding warrants, there were 188 rises versus 225 falls.
The weakness here was in contrast to Hong Kong where the Hang Seng Index traded in the black throughout the day before ending with a 0.5 per cent gain.
No reason could be found for the selling since Europe opened firm. The speculation was therefore that it was program selling ahead of anticipated softness on Wall Street on Thursday.
INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY NEWS :
Gold prices gained on Thursday in Asia as investors eyed physical demand from China. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery rose 0.62% to $1,209.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, silver futures for May delivery increased 0.84% t $16.612 a troy ounce. Elsewhere on Comex, copper for May delivery rose 0.33% to $2.654 a pound. Overnight, gold futures reversed most of the gains made in Asia on Wednesday afternoon before settling slightly higher.
TRADING STRATEGY :
BUY GOLD ABOVE 1212 TARGET 1217 1223 SL 1206
SELL GOLD BELOW 1205 TARGET 1200 1194 SL 1211
