Singapore shares will take their cue from a weekend meeting of major industrialised nations, dealers said, as the city state on Friday became the first Asian economy to slide into recession.
As panic selling convulsed Singapore and other global stock markets over fears authorities are unable to contain the crisis, US President George W. Bush agreed to host ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) over the weekend.
He will be joined by finance ministers and central bankers of the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Italy and Canada.
Markets will be looking "for concrete ideas or solutions" from the meeting, Saxo Capital Markets said in Singapore. Bush vowed to take "strong action" against the crisis and emphasised "our common desire to work with our European friends to develop a best-as-possible common policy." Financial authorities in the major powers have already pumped massive amounts of liquidity into the global banking system in an effort to unclog credit markets.
They have also joined in a co-ordinated cut in interest rates. CFC Seymour securities said from Hong Kong that the G7 meeting is the markets' only hope. Singapore's government next Friday is to release key trade statistics for September, after preliminary data last week showed that real gross domestic product declined by 6.3 percent in the third quarter largely on weaker manufacturing, following a 5.7 percent contraction in the previous quarter.
In the week ended October 10, the blue chip Straits Times Index closed at 1,948.33 - its lowest close since September 2004. For the week, it was down 348.79 points, or 15.18 percent. Average daily volume traded for the week was 1.35 billion shares worth 1.45 billion Singapore dollars (980.40 million US), compared with 1.12 billion shares valued at 1.41 billion dollars the previous week.
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