Singapore Stocks (SGX) Market News

The overnight session was certainly a tale of two halves, as EUR/USD plunged in both European trade and the early hours of the US session. This came as weaker jobless claims, Greek concerns and a surprise decision by the International Energy Agency to announce the release of 60 million barrels of oil on to the market all combined to trigger widespread panic selling. Any attempts to rally were initially capped around the 1.42 figure, until news broke that both the Troika (ECB, IMF & EU) and Greece had struck a deal on the structure of the five-year, EUR28 billion austerity package, which is a precondition to the release of the next tranche of Greek aid. The market reacted as if it had already been approved by parliament, surging back to the 1.4260 mark where it is currently trading. While this development is undoubtedly positive, it still needs to pass through Greek parliament next week, which will be the big test. In a display of confidence, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou assured EU leaders at a meeting in Brussels that the austerity plans will pass. Looking ahead, tonight’s session will continue to be dominated by the Greek situation, as well as the continuing EU Economic Summit. There is likely to be ‘headline risk’ to comments that come out of the summit. Ben Potter, Australia