War fears, US politics to remain dominant themes

WAR mongering after the US and its British and French allies launched targeted military strikes on Syria over the weekend will likely dent trading sentiments in the local bourse over this week. That plus the sell-off in Wall Street last Friday led by banking stocks could see a wobbly start for the local equity market.

These factors could dampen the optimism that had dominated the Singapore bourse last week fuelled by Chinese President Xi Jinping's conciliatory tone on the trade tensions between his country and the US as well as favourable growth data from home.

All three key US stock indices ended last week on a sour note following a batch of earnings reports from large US banks that surpassed analyst expectations but witnessed a sell-off in their shares as the strong results had already been priced in earlier.