FTSE STI closed 3,173.51, down 7.14 points or -0.22% with a total volume of 1.72b and a total value of S$1.02b. Total number of advance vs decline was 232 vs 178. Of the 30 component index stocks, 12 closed positive, 3 unchanged and 15 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.310
2. Semb Corp +0.060
3. DBS +0.050
4. Noble Grp +0.030
5. ComfortDelGro +0.025
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -1.040
2. JSH 500US$ -0.380
3. SIA -0.120
4. UOB -0.110
5. StarHub -0.100
US markets closed flat with Nasdaq crossing the 4,000 level . Asian bourses were mostly down for the day. Nikkei -0.67%, SSE -0.14% and HSI -0.01%. STI was flat for the day in thin volume but slightly higher value. 12 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.
A downbeat pending home sales data caused US markets to perform flat but DJ closed at new record high and Nasdaq crossed 4,000 level, the last time it did that was 13 years ago. Asian bourses were not impressed with the economic data and performance resulting in selling pressure as investors and fund managers taking profit.
Singapore released its manufacturing output for October coming in at 8% on-year, slower than expected, down from 9.2% in September and that didn't help much on the already muted activities in STI, as usual was flat with fund managers continued to sell to adjust their year end portfolio performance (daily value gone up, end of the month coming fund managers last round the "window dress" their portfolio). Note fund managers have no choice to sell because as US markets kept creeping higher without solid fundamental reason, they will pressurized to chase the market in order not to under performed the benchmark. Their action only create bubbles in US stock markets but present great bargain hunting opportunity in Asian markets.
