FTSE STI closed 3,204.80, down 5.41 points or -0.17% with a total volume of 2.54b and a total value of S$1.33b. Total number of advance vs decline was 238 vs 206. Of the 30 component index stocks, 9 closed positive, 4 unchanged and 17 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ +0.470
2. JMH 400US$ +0.450
3. CapMallsAsia +0.055
4. OCBC +0.040
5. DBS +0.020
5. SIA Engg +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.390
2. SGX -0.140
3. UOB -0.090
4. ST Engg -0.070
5. Semb Corp -0.070
5. HKLand US$ -0.070
US markets closed positive yesterday with S&P500 hitting record high after the delayed September non-farm payroll data. Asian bourses initially started off positive but an event made regional bourses took an about turn and closed in the red. Nikkei -1.95%, SSE -1.25% and HSI -1.36%. STI trending like regional bourses started off positive but gave up all the gain and closed -0.17% in moderate volume and value. Only 9 of the 30 index stocks registered gain.
US September non-farm payroll came out with job creation coming in at 148,000 below market expectation but unemployment rate dropped to 7.2%. The not so good set of data did give investors some cheers as they will expect US Fed should not be tapering soonest and that was the reason for the rally in US markets. Asia took an unexpected event today which trigger sharp drop in most Asian bourses. Report of China banks have tripled debt write-offs in first half of the year caused the worries and in the afternoon ECB announced new rules on Europe bank stress tests.
STI gave up earlier gain like regional bourses as the new worries made investors taking profit. On the surface, the 2 pieces of news above look negative but actually they are not. Over-reaction no doubt can be seen. Investors should focus on fundamental instead being swayed by news which on the underlying is not a bad piece of news.
