Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Market Summary -- 14th May 14

FTSE STI closed 3,259.09, up 36.66 points or +1.14% with a total volume of 1.76b and a total value of S$1.50b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 266 vs 167.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 23 closed positive, 5 unchanged and 2 in the red.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. Jardine C&C  +1.720
2. JMH 400USD  +1.420
3. JSH 500USD  +0.740
4. UOB  +0.300
5. DBS  +0.160

The 2 loser component stocks were :-

1. StarHub  -0.030
2. ThaiBev  -0.005

US markets closed mixed with both DJ and S&P500 closing at record high.  Asian bourses were also mixed for the day with Nikkei -0.14%, SSE -0.14% and HSI +1.03%.  STI after yesterday holiday, playing catchup rose 1.14% in slightly higher volume and value than past days.  23 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.

US retail sales for April barely rose from the report yesterday resulting in mixed closing for US markets.  Asian bourses were also mixed given as investors still very much divided.  There was a bit of cautious too as investors watching out of ECB's action tonight.  There is a possibility that ECB will act either this month or next to counteract for deflation.

The gap up of blue chips helped STI to rise 1.14%.  While most focus on selective micro-penny punting stocks due to their wild swing in price range intra-day making them easy for trading, they also ignored the possibility of a broad based S-Reits break out happening.  This could due to funds hedging for possible ECB action within these 2 months.  If so, they will have further upside.