FTSE STI closed 3,166.74, down 13.51 points or -0.42% with a total volume of 1.80b and a total value of S$963M. Total number of advance vs decline was 124 vs 300. Of the 30 component index stocks, 8 closed positive, 3 unchanged and 19 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. UOB +0.040
2. SIA +0.030
3. Semb Corp +0.020
4. DBS +0.010
5. OCBC +0.010
5. THBEV +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.940
2. JSH 500US$ -0.480
3. JMH 400US$ -0.130
4. CityDev -0.100
5. HKLand US$ -0.090
US markets fell yesterday night and Asian bourses were a sea of red with Nikkei -0.15%, SSE -1.83% and HSI -1.91%. STI fell 0.42% in thin volume and value with only 8 of the index stocks registered positive closing.
The fear factor of US Fed may start to taper sooner than expected and a not very informative from the outcome of the China reform meeting yesterday sent investors to sell for the day. As mentioned numerous times, US Fed taper is not something of a bad news and to take that to sell down on the market (except US markets) is never justify and only present value hunters the best opportunity to get something cheap. Outcome of China meeting was not informative does not mean Chinese leaders are not doing anything to their economy. It is all down to expectation issue. Most expect some measures from Chinese Government to roll out so that it will benefit the world. However, one must know that China is not acting as a savor to the world but rather it will have to look after herself as first priority.
STI sank into red from the start of the bell. The selling mostly were opportunists taking the negative sentiment to short the shares. For past days the thin market activities indicated that not much players were in it. It is an encouraging sign for the short-seller to come in to really press down the price to dirt cheap and they should do it even more aggressively so that real investors will really have dirt cheap stocks to pick up. For once short-sellers are doing the job right. For real investors, remember US Fed tapering is nothing but noise, miss the opportunity to bargain hunt and you will never see it again until next year.
