The Singapore stock market has finished higher in six straight sessions, improving more than 125 points or 4.1 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 3,230-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains upbeat on optimism for the outlook of interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The STI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and industrial issues.
For the day, the index jumped 55.15 points or 1.74 percent to finish at 3,228.33 after trading between 3,211.20 and 3,238.07, Volume was 2.14 billion shares worth 1.93 billion Singapore dollars. There were 443 gainers and 180 decliners.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT accelerated 6.15 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust surged 7.37 percent, CapitaLand Investment spiked 6.27 percent, City Developments strengthened 4.82 percent, Comfort DelGro was up 0.74 percent, DBS Group and Wilmar International both gained 1.78 percent, Emperador rose 1.03 percent, Genting Singapore added 1.84 percent, Hongkong Land improved 3.41 percent, Keppel Corp increased 1.97 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust jumped 5.10 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rallied 5.50 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust soared 6.62 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation perked 0.25 percent, SATS climbed 3.92 percent, SembCorp Industries rose 0.66 percent, SingTel advanced 2.28 percent, United Overseas Bank collected 0.99 percent, Yangzijiang Financial gathered 1.49 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding skyrocketed 7.81 percent and Singapore Technologies Engineering and Thai Beverage were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened mixed on Friday, with the Dow spending most of the session in negative territory before breaking into the green late in the day.
The Dow rose 32.49 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 33,747.86, while the NASDAQ surged 209.18 points or 1.88 percent to close at 11,323.33 and the S&P 500 advanced 36.56 points or 0.92 percent to end at 3,992.93.
For the week, the NASDAQ skyrocketed 8.1 percent, the S&P 500 soared 5.9 percent and the Dow jumped 4.2 percent.
The extended rally on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from optimism about the Federal Reserve slowing the pace of interest rate hikes following Thursday's tamer than expected inflation data.
On the heels of the inflation data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 80.6 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by 50 basis points next month compared to the recent 75 basis point rate hikes.
Crude oil prices spiked on Friday, supported by a weak dollar and reports about China cutting quarantine restrictions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $2.49 or 2.9 percent at $88.96 a barrel.