Monday, January 7, 2013

Market Summary -- 7th Jan 13

FTSE STI closed 3,218.26, down 6.96 points or -0.22% with a total volume of 5.92b and a total value of S$1.54b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 367 vs 121.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive, 4 unchanged and 15 closed negative.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$  +0.860
2. JSH 500US$  +0.080
3. Capitaland  +0.050
4. F&N  +0.050
5. KepCorp  +0.040

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. CityDev  -0.280
2. Jardine C&C  -0.250
3. UOB  -0.160
4. OCBC  -0.160
5. DBS  -0.120

US markets closed positive last Friday after an inline non-farm payroll data.  Asian bourses were mostly in the red for the day with Nikkei -0.83%, SSE +0.37% and HSI -0.01%.  STI closed -0.22% in another heavy volume of more than 5 billion but thin value at S$1.52b.  11 of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.

US created slightly more jobs than expected in December and unemployment rate raise to 7.8%.  Pretty much inline set of data in which labor market though weak but improving at slow rate.  Though that piece of news provided some cheers for the markets but Asian bourses were pretty much on profit taking after strong rally for past days.  The fiscal cliff issue in US ( budget cut and debt ceiling ) still remained unsolved and IMF chief sounded warning over the weekend regarding that as a threat to global economy.  Investors will also be focusing on corporate earning which for US starting this week and for Singapore next week.

STI as usual dominated by punters punting on penny stocks.  Suggest investors re-focus back to the fundamental strong stocks and position for earning season.