FTSE STI closed 3,231.23, up 11.37 points or +0.35% with a total volume of 3.86b and a total value of S$1.44b. Total number of advance vs decline was 329 vs 150. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed negative, 3 unchanged and 20 closed positive. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ +1.000
2. HKLand US$ +0.210
3. Jardine C&C +0.160
4. CityDev +0.140
5. SIA +0.140
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. SingTel -0.040
2. KepCorp -0.040
3. CapMallsAsia -0.030
4. Wilmar -0.020
5. GLP -0.020
US markets closed positive yesterday led by commodity and financial stocks. Asian bourses however were mostly down for the day. Nikkei -2.08%, SSE +0.25% and HSI -0.10%. STI rose 0.35% with moderate volume and value and 20 of the 30 index stocks posted positive closing.
After the dell, Google and IBM came out earning that beat expectation and that provided some positive sentiment to Asian bourses but the strengthening of Yen caused Nikkei to drop 2.08%. For STI micro-penny play appeared to be over as daily volume declined as investors focus on earning play. Singapore also reported its December inflation this afternoon coming in at +4.3% vs +3.9% expected.
US House set to vote of temporary remove the debt ceiling until May and that move if approves should allow investors to temporary get off the concern of debt ceiling in the short-term and solely focus on corporate earning. The result of the earning is of little important but rather the forecast of the earning for rest of the year will decide on the direction the market.
