Singapore shares are likely to trade firmer in the week ahead with sentiment boosted by hopes of a recovery in the local economy, analysts said. The blue chip Straits Times Index closed Friday at 2,622.69 points, down 20.11 points or 0.76 percent from the previous week.
Average daily volume was 2.81 billion shares worth 1.87 billion Singapore dollars (1.3 billion US), compared with 3.13 billion shares worth 1.80 billion dollars the week before.
Analysts from Credit Suisse said in a report received Friday they expect Singapore's economy to contract by 2.4 percent this year, which is an improvement from the previous forecast for a decline of 3.9 percent. For next year, they expected it to grow 5.7 percent instead of 4.4 percent as previously forecasted, they said in the report.
"Singapore has seen the sharpest bounce in industrial output and real GDP so far this year, and we believe it will likely see more gains in output from stronger external demand well into 2010," they said. The government's official forecast is for the trade-reliant economy to contract 4.0-6.0 percent this year, which would be its worst since independence in 1965.
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