Thursday, March 8, 2012

Market Summary -- 8th Mar 12

FTSE STI closed 2,970.38, up 57.22 points or +1.96% with a total volume of 1.86b and a total value of S$1.39b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 300 vs 89.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 29 closed positive and 1 remained unchanged.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. Jardine C&C  +1.340
2. JMH 400US$  +0.550
3. UOB  +0.470
4. DBS  +0.420
5. JSH 500US$  +0.390

US markets rebounded yesterday night with at least +0.60% after a slightly better than expected ADP number which could signal this Friday unemployment situation could continue the improving trend.  Asian bourses after past days of selling rebounded also with Nikkei closed +2.01% after its GDP came in slightly better than expected, SSE +1.06% and HSI +1.32%.  STI almost recouped yesterday loss closed +1.96% with a daily volume came in short of 2 billion but slightly better than past days.  29 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing as investors bargain hunting and short-covering pushed the price of index stocks up.

In EU side, today is the deadline for private bond holder to agree on the Greece debt swap which in turns taking a 53.5% haircut.  So far 60% of the bond holders agree to the swap and market trading up for the day also due to partly optimism that the Greece debt swap can go through without Greece having to default this time round.