Scant cheer from market data and trade talks; STI slips 0.41%

FRIDAY was a day of bad news for markets, amid weak data from the two largest economies and reports that their negotiators were struggling to compromise on key issues in Beijing.

Data released on Thursday by the US Commerce Department showed that retail sales in December suffered their biggest drop in more than nine years, raising concerns of a slowing economy. Meanwhile, China's weakened factory prices indicated softening demand and the prospect of deflation returning.

As US-China trade talks wrapped up ahead of a final meeting between top US economic officials and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg cited anonymous sources as saying that there had been little progress on a number of issues between the two countries.