Friday, December 6, 2013

Market Summary -- 6th Dec 13

FTSE STI closed 3,114.17, down 10.21 points or -0.33% with a total volume of 1.48b and a total value of S$945M.  Total number of advance vs decline was 167 vs 218.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive, 4 unchanged and 15 in the red.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. HKLand US$  +0.140
2. Semb Corp  +0.090
3. GLP  +0.080
4. ComfortDelGro  +0.040
5. Capitaland  +0.030
5. SembMar  +0.030

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$  -0.940
2. JSH 500US$  -0.660
3. SPH  -0.200
4. SIA  -0.200
5. DBS  -0.090

US markets closed in the red for the 5th day in a row after better than expected economic data.  Asian bourses were mixed for the day with most of them recovered from earlier loss.  Nikkei +0.81%, SSE -0.44% and HSI +0.13%.  STI though managed to recover from a drop to below 3,100 level but still close in the red in thin volume and value.  11 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.

US markets closed down for the 5th session after strong economic data in GDP and jobless claims.  US GDP came in +3.6% vs expected of +2.8% and jobless claims dropped to 2-month low as investors weighed on the good set of data will result in US Fed start tapering this month.  The concern spread through Asian bourses in the early session as they opened all in the red but some managed to recover and closed positive.  The US Fed tapering is not something new or something unexpected and it is something that must be done and should not be alarmed even if US Fed does start to taper this month.  All eyes will be on tonight US non-farm payroll.

STI dragged down by the concern of US Fed tapering in particularly the S-Reits were under selling pressure.  There are lot of negative talks on the market with respect to the US Fed tapering but most have forgotten about the very basic fundamental.  Should US Fed taper it means economy is strong enough to self-sustain and in a piece of good news.  However, most just rather to focus on the greedy part (that is access to cheap and easy money from US Fed stimulus) and sell down the markets especially Asian markets irrationally.  Nevertheless, that is good news for long-term investors, they sell cheap, we buy cheap, as simple as ABC.