Market Summary -- 5th Apr 11

FTSE STI closed 3,146.75, up 6.13 points or +0.20% with a total volume of 1.30b and a total value of S$1.43b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 228 vs 251.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 14 closed positive, 15 closed negative and 1 remained unchanged.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$  +1.380

2. JSH 500US$  +0.920

3. SGX  +0.320

4. Jardine C&C  +0.280

5. F&N  +0.050

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. CityDev  -0.140

2. KepCorp  -0.080

3. UOB  -0.080

4. SembCorp  -0.070

5. OCBC  -0.060

US markets were mixed yesterday night with profit taking and lack of catalysts backing the trading activities.  Asian bourses were also mixed.  Nikkei closed -1.06% with continuous concern on the nuclear crisis.  Both SSE and HSI were closed for holiday.  STI did manage to edge out some gain despite profit taking.  With news of the SGX-ASX merger heading road block and potentially off, SGX climbed +3.99% coupling with gain on the Jardine group of stocks help cushion some drop in other blue chips.  Market might be heading into a pause from the recent run up given that on Thursday ECB should be doing an interest rate hike.