FTSE STI closed 3,195.10, down 13.40 points or -0.42% with a total volume of 4.74b and a total value of S$1.57b. Total number of advance vs decline was 202 vs 228. Of the 30 component index stocks, 12 closed positive, 3 unchanged and 15 closed negative. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.380
2. KepCorp +0.110
3. Capitaland +0.060
4. CityDev +0.060
5. HKLand US$ +0.040
5. SIA Engg +0.040
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -0.880
2. JSH 500US$ -0.170
3. OCBC -0.160
4. F&N -0.160
5. UOB -0.140
US markets closed mixed yesterday despite better than expected earning from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Asian bourses mostly negative for the day with Nikkei +0.09%, SSE -1.06% and HSI -0.07%. STI fell 0.42% in moderate volume and value. Only 12 of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.
Mixture of corporate news, World Bank cutting global economy forecast and concern of US debt ceiling caused US markets to closed mix. Apple share rebounded together with better than expected earning from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan helped Nasdaq and S&P500 to close positive but the drag in Boeing due to JAL and ANA grounded Dreamliner result in DJ in the red. Tonight will be another 2 banks (BofA and Citigroup) earning.
Asian bourses were in between profit taking and cautious mood ahead tomorrow China GDP announcement. Locally, Singapore released its December non-oil export data this morning coming in at -16.3% on Year vs -8.0% expected and +1.8% Adj on Month vs +6.5% expected. The weak and possible continue weak for next couple of months has definitely caused some corner of Singapore economy could be the first in Asia to enter recession in 2013 apart from Japan. Singapore Government definitely in need to think of policy to reform its economy to rely less on export and not pure citing excuse the weakness in economy is due to external factor (weakness in US and Europe). LTA also announced plan to build 2 new MRT lines across the island by 2030. That policy should not be able to resolve the current transportation woe in general.
