Singapore shares are expected to be subdued next week, with the ailing US economy seen as weighing down on investor enthusiasm, analysts said Friday.
Comments by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan that the United States faces recession risks compounded worries over a weaker-than-expected second quarter growth for the world's biggest economy, they said.
The US Commerce Department said Thursday that the economy expanded at an annualised 1.9 percent pace in the second quarter, but fell short of the 2.3 percent forecast by most economists.
It also revised 2007 fourth-quarter growth to a 0.2 percent contraction - the first reversal for the US economy since the 2001 recession. "Uncertainty is the main factor," Westcomb Securities said in a note.
"We will always move up, we will not fall back to old lows at least for the next one or two weeks. But it's very hard to be positive on the upside," said Najeeb Jarhom, head of research at AmFraser Securities. In the week ended August 1, the main Straits Times Index closed at 2,906.07 points, down 16.84 points or 0.58 percent, from 2,922.91 points a week ago. Average volume traded for the week was 947.6 million shares worth 1.21 billion Singapore dollars (884.11 million US), compared with 1.03 billion shares worth 1.29 billion dollars the previous week.