Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Market Summary -- 17th Apr 12

FTSE STI closed 2,986.59, down 5.53 points or -0.18% with a total volume of 2.12b and a total value of S$1.11b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 143 vs 242.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 12 closed positive, 15 closed negative and 3 remained unchanged.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. UOB  +0.080
2. ST Engg  +0.050
3. DBS  +0.040
4. SPH  +0.040
5. F&N  +0.030

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$  -0.340
2. Jardine C&C  -0.210
3. CityDev  -0.160
4. KepCorp  -0.150
5. SembMar  -0.050
5. NOL  -0.050

US markets closed mixed last night with DJ positive and the other 2 in the red.  A better than expected Retail Sales data coupling with firm Citigroup earning helped pushed the index up but the drop in Apple shares dragged Nasdaq down.  Asian bourses closed mostly in the red as concern of Spain's debt piled on the selling pressure.  Nikkei closed -0.06%, SSE -0.94% and HSI -0.23%.  STI gave back yesterday gain with a -0.18% close in another day whereby daily volume hit past the 2 billion mark.  Total value of the day also improved from past days moving back up to the S$1 billion level indicating penny stocks probably losing interest as investors refocus back to the blue chips.

Singapore reported an unexpected drop in non-oil export for March and that dented the sentiment a bit offsetting some strong earnings.  While investors were focusing of the Spain's debt issue watching Spain bond's auction these few days, events of IMF seeking to boost up the bailout funds is one of the top agenda ahead of the weekend IMF meeting.  News of Japan will provide $60b to expand IMF's funds brought some relief to it.  Do note that many were trying to wary of last year the Greece's debt saga when markets sold down in the second half of the year, the Spain's debt issue could be difficult scenario and before jumping the gun to start panicking, investors should have a clear mind to analyze the overall situation.  It is true that Spain's debt is more potent than Greece's as Spain is the 4th largest economy in EU as compared to Greece.  The difference between last year and now was last year EU leaders still delaying in co-operative action to tackle the EU debt issue and now EU leaders all realized the systemic risk of the debt crisis and since then all working together to resolve it.  The EU bailout funds also have been increased since the Greek's saga.  EU debt issue is the common between the 2 events but situation wise, it is of different aspect already.  Hence, if trying to enact last year of selling down might not be really justify.

Singapore started the earning season so far so good.  SPH in line earning, K-Reit and CapitaRChina both recorded strong earning, M1 profit drop and today A-Reit and SGX both came out with a set of good earning too.  Investors should focus on the earning, looking at the fundamental of the companies.  The macro events like EU debt issue, China slowing down, US economy recovery are all nothing new events.