Singapore shares ended off their early highs Friday, as a boost from data showing U.S. jobless benefit claims unexpectedly fell last week faded amid a selloff in property counters.
"Any sign that the number one economy in the world is starting to fire again gives traders and everyone else an opportunity to say 'why not [enter the market]?'," said Song Seng Wun, head of research at CIMB. But he noted that "some people are becoming a little more nervous from a technical standpoint. Resistance levels are more challenging."
The 30-share Straits Times Index ended up 6.55 points, or 0.2%, at 3286.05 but well off its intraday high of 3305.77, as the index failed once again to hold above resistance at 3300. The index ended down 0.1% for the week.
Volume surged to 7.19 billion shares valued at S$2.89 billion compared with Thursday's 5.96 billion shares valued at S$1.42 billion.
Property stocks were hit by a double whammy of data showing the city-state's February private home sales slumped 65% from the previous month and as property counters sold off in the Hong Kong market on expectations of government tightening measures.
The Lunar New Year holiday and recent cooling measures likely damped the Singapore sales data, Religare Capital said in a note. "Recent news already points toward a pickup in launch activity again in March, and it might turn out to be another strong month for sales," it said. "Should sales continue to stay at these elevated levels, we believe that the government will act again to clamp down on demand."
CapitaLand dropped 4.2% to S$3.40, City Developments fell 3.7% to S$10.76 and Hongkong Land shed 3.3% to US$7.01.
Olam dropped 3.0% to S$1.625 after a large block of shares changed hands in late trade. During the session, the stock touched a high of S$1.73, its highest level since short seller Muddy Waters issued a critical report on the company in mid-November.
Wilmar ended down 1.5% at S$3.32, also weighed by a large block of shares changing hands in late trade.
Helping to support the index, the heavily weighted banks gained, with UOB, OCBC and DBS tacking on 1.0%-1.8%.
"Any sign that the number one economy in the world is starting to fire again gives traders and everyone else an opportunity to say 'why not [enter the market]?'," said Song Seng Wun, head of research at CIMB. But he noted that "some people are becoming a little more nervous from a technical standpoint. Resistance levels are more challenging."
The 30-share Straits Times Index ended up 6.55 points, or 0.2%, at 3286.05 but well off its intraday high of 3305.77, as the index failed once again to hold above resistance at 3300. The index ended down 0.1% for the week.
Volume surged to 7.19 billion shares valued at S$2.89 billion compared with Thursday's 5.96 billion shares valued at S$1.42 billion.
Property stocks were hit by a double whammy of data showing the city-state's February private home sales slumped 65% from the previous month and as property counters sold off in the Hong Kong market on expectations of government tightening measures.
The Lunar New Year holiday and recent cooling measures likely damped the Singapore sales data, Religare Capital said in a note. "Recent news already points toward a pickup in launch activity again in March, and it might turn out to be another strong month for sales," it said. "Should sales continue to stay at these elevated levels, we believe that the government will act again to clamp down on demand."
CapitaLand dropped 4.2% to S$3.40, City Developments fell 3.7% to S$10.76 and Hongkong Land shed 3.3% to US$7.01.
Olam dropped 3.0% to S$1.625 after a large block of shares changed hands in late trade. During the session, the stock touched a high of S$1.73, its highest level since short seller Muddy Waters issued a critical report on the company in mid-November.
Wilmar ended down 1.5% at S$3.32, also weighed by a large block of shares changing hands in late trade.
Helping to support the index, the heavily weighted banks gained, with UOB, OCBC and DBS tacking on 1.0%-1.8%.
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