FTSE STI closed 3,217.95, up 13.15 points or +0.41% with a total volume of 1.80b and a total value of S$911M. Total number of advance vs decline was 222 vs 159. Of the 30 component index stocks, 18 closed positive, 6 unchanged and 6 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Kep Corp +0.100
2. SGX +0.100
3. Jardine C&C +0.090
4. SIA +0.080
5. OCBC +0.060
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ -0.210
2. JMH 400US$ -0.160
3. HKLand US$ -0.100
4. Capitaland -0.010
5. HPH Trust US$ -0.005
5. GoldenAgr -0.005
US markets fell after record high in the past session due to weak corporate earning and tracking yesterday Asia bourses drop. Asian bourses were mixed for the day with Nikkei +0.42%, SSE -0.86% and HSI -0.71%. STI swinging between gain and loss managed to close positive with a 0.41% gain in thin volume and value day. 18 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.
In general markets are presently tracking corporate earning and global economic news in which after moving up and a certain degree of negative news will see profit taking next. Today was another economic news day with the release of HSBC flash PMI for October for China hitting a 7-month high at 50.9. In the afternoon, Euro zone reported a below expectation flash PMI of 51.5 coming down from the previous month of 52.2. The mixture of news did not give investors much catalysts to move back into the markets and hence profit taking were seen for some of the markets.
STI managed to out-perform most of the regional bourses mainly due to its resilient corporate earning so far. The profit taking so far was well supported and should the trend remain so throughout the whole earning season despite negative global news, chances of having a year end rally will be there.
