FTSE STI closed 3,195.76, up 2.86 points or +0.09% with a total volume of 4.33b and a total value of S$1.31b. Total number of advance vs decline was 314 vs 126. Of the 30 component index stocks, 17 closed positive, 5 unchanged and 8 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. UOB +0.090
2. Olam +0.050
3. SGX +0.050
4. DBS +0.040
5. Kep Corp +0.040
5. Semb Corp +0.040
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -1.620
2. JSH 500US$ -0.300
3. OCBC -0.060
4. HKLand US$ -0.060
5. SingTel -0.010
5. SembMar -0.010
5. Jardine C&C -0.010
US markets closed positive last Friday and Asian bourses taking the cue traded positive for the day. Nikkei +0.91%, SSE +1.62% and HSI +0.42%. STI tracking regional bourses stayed in the positive region with a 0.09% gain in moderate volume and value day. 17
With the US issue temporary putting aside, investors are now focus back to corporate earning but still maintaining a cautious stance as few months down the road the US issue will be resurfaced again. This week will be focusing on economic data with US non-farm payroll for September, China PMI and this morning released of Japanese export data for September coming in at +11.5% but below expectation of +15.6% and lower than August of +14.6%. Investors will also be weighing the economic damaged done for the 2 week partial shutdown of US Government.
SGX today lifted the trading curb on the 3 designated counters but due to the already damaged negative sentiment, investors in general are shunning the penny stocks resulting in thinner volume for STI. So far those companies that have earning being released showed resilient in their earning thereby providing some support for the stock prices. As it will be just 2 months till end of the year, it will be interesting to see how fund managers going to do with their portfolio. They could be holding cash due to the past months sell out and if stock markets move up from now till year of the year, this could result in their portfolio under-performing the benchmark and there is every possibility that fund managers could be coming back and that will result in pushing the stock prices higher.
