Thursday, January 19, 2012

Market Summary -- 20th Jan 12

FTSE STI closed 2,811.20, up 15.80 points or +0.57% with a total volume of 1.66b and a total value of S$1.45b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 298 vs 178.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 15 closed positive, 5 remained unchanged and 10 closed negative.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. Jardine C&C  +0.430
2. HKLand US$  +0.250
3. UOB  +0.220
4. SIA  +0.150
5. Capitaland  +0.110
5.  DBS  +0.110

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. JSH 500US$  -0.200
2. KepCorp  -0.110
3. SIA Engg  -0.040
4. StarHub  -0.030
5. SingTel  -0.030

US markets closed average at least +1% yesterday night with news of better than expected earning from Goldman Sachs and IMF decision to boost the war chest by S$600 billion to build a firewall around the EU debt crisis ( problem is where the money from ? ).  Asian bourses taking the cue were mostly positive for the day with Nikkei closed +1.04%, SSE +1.31% with continue speculation that China Government will ease monetary policy over the long CNY holiday and HSI +1.30%.  STI rose +0.57% in moderate volume with 15 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.  Though STI was higher but across the board there was a sense of profit taking ahead of the long CNY holiday.  Together with the fact that S&P 500 managed to hit 1300 level yesterday night and most consensus was the 1300 is a resistance level and should see S&P 500 pulling back.  Apart from the index stocks, telco, S-Reit and offshore/marine stocks were under selling pressure presumably investors taking profit and stay cautious ahead of the long CNY holiday.  Might see some more profit taking and weakness tomorrow as investors continue to unwind position ahead of CNY holiday.