FTSE STI closed 3,124.38, down 36.32 points or -1.15% with a total volume of 2.00b and a total value of S$1.20b. Total number of advance vs decline was 119 vs 294. Of the 30 component index stocks, 2 closed positive and 28 in the red. The 2 gainer component stocks were :-
1. HKLand US$ +0.060
2. THBEV +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -0.960
2. JSH 500US$ -0.650
3. Jardine C&C -0.310
4. Kep Corp -0.220
5. OCBC -0.130
US markets mostly closed down after better than expected ADP job number. Asian bourses continued the selling down with Nikkei -1.50%, SSE -0.21% and HSI -0.07%. STI dropped another 1.15% from yesterday in slightly higher volume and value with only 2 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.
The better than expected ADP job data fueled a better than expected non-farm payroll data to be released this Friday and with US Fed linking tapering to job data, this further create more fear that US Fed could taper as soon as this month. All this is just pure speculation by investors. Asian bourses with no data for the day taking the negative sentiment to sell down the markets and that is not something to be surprised of given in the past this scenario has been repeated times over times.
STI with weak buyers supporting the markets and short-sellers taking the advantage of the negative sentiment sent STI to another 1.15% drop. While short-sellers are busying shorting down the market, this can only present Asian markets including STI more and more attractive level for long-term investors to enter the market. The market always reward those with the patience and long time frame. Short-term gain can be nice but it could disappear within the next day.
