Singapore stocks finish week on a flat note, STI down 0.7% for the five days

A FALL in oil prices, an expected US interest rate hike and news that US President Donald Trump is under investigation for possible obstruction of justice were the main external events that impacted stock markets this week.

Closer to home, upbeat economic numbers and signs of a revival in the property market, possibly driven by en bloc activity, were the main features.

Perhaps not surprisingly, banks, which have been the prime movers of the Straits Times Index (STI) this year, were again the central drivers of the STI every day. Meanwhile while in the second line, rotational playing was the order of the day.

On Friday, the STI slipped 0.65 of a point to 3,231.44, bringing its loss for the week to 22 points or about 0.7 per cent. Trading was listless on Friday, the index initial rising about 11 points before drifting lower.

Of some concern should be volume, which has been steadily declining since the start of the year when it regularly stood above S$1 billion per day and now barely crosses S$1 billion.

On Friday however, a late flurry helped elevate volume to 2.3 billion units worth S$1.5 billion, the highest for the week. There were 238 rises versus 190 falls excluding warrants.