So been watching the Singapore market and there's definitely a consolidation pattern forming here. After that rough three-day slide where STI dropped nearly 80 points, we've been bouncing around but not really committing to a direction. Currently hovering just under 4,850, which tells me we're in that typical consolidation zone before the next move.

Thursday closed slightly green with STI up 33.81 points to 4,846.56, mostly thanks to financials and property stocks holding up. DBS, Singapore Airlines, and the real estate plays like CapitaLand actually showed some strength. But here's the thing - this consolidation isn't happening in isolation. The broader Asian markets are getting hit by this energy price surge that's weighing on everything.

Wall Street confirmed it yesterday. Dow got absolutely hammered, down 784 points or 1.61 percent to 47,954. NASDAQ and S&P 500 followed suit. Why? Crude oil went ballistic. WTI spiked $6.51 to $81.17 a barrel - that's an 8.7 percent jump in one day. Week-to-date we're looking at a 21.1 percent surge on the back of Middle East tensions.

The consolidation we're seeing in Singapore is really just the market trying to digest all this uncertainty around energy costs and geopolitical risk. Until we get clarity on the crude situation and the broader conflict dynamics, I'd expect this choppy consolidation to continue. The forecast is pretty negative for Asian opens, so if you're trading the STI, watch for that 4,850 level closely - breaks below that and we could see more downside before any real consolidation takes hold.