FTSE STI closed 3,293.82, down 11.38 points or -0.34% with a total volume of 2.87b and a total value of S$945M. Total number of advance vs decline was 209 vs 224. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed positive, 5 unchanged and 18 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500USD +0.090
2. OCBC +0.040
3. Keppel Corp +0.020
4. SIA +0.020
5. StarHub +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400USD -0.800
2. Jardine C&C -0.370
3. UOB -0.080
4. Olam -0.080
5. Hongkong Land USD -0.070
US markets edged up yesterday but Asian bourses were mixed for the day. Nikkei -0.85%, SSE +1.08% and HSI +0.86%. STI opened slight positive but surrendered those gain and closed -0.34% in moderate volume but thin value. Only 7 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
Positive sentiment, lack of retail participation in which algo and high-frequency trading dominated the US markets. As such, it was pretty easy to move the indices higher even without the support of fundamental. Asia bourses saw a see-saw day in which most opened positive following US markets positive closing but soon after China CPI data came out, +2.5% for May, rising more than expected of +2.4%, regional bourses dipped into the red but both SSE and HSI managed to rebound and close positive. Rest of the bourses were subjected to profit taking. World Cup is just 2 days away, perhaps except US in which football is not a passionate sport and team USA will get booted out of the tournament on 23rd Jun 2014, US markets probably during the World Cup period could enjoy the continue moving up (since most of the US traders got nothing to focus on in the World Cup) but for rest of the world it will be different story. Football is very much passionate in Europe, South America and Asia and traders/investors in these regions will focus on the World Cup than on the markets.
STI was on moderate volume mainly due to penny stocks punting. The failed attempt for the blue chips to crawl back the loss on intra-day basis will not do STI any good in the short-term. Declining in volume, lacking the strength to recover losses and technically there is a divergence in STI in which index moving up but volume is declining as it moves along. Not at all good sign as a whole. Penny and micro-penny stocks might be rotating in play during the World Cup period in which punters trying to punt for quick profit.
