FTSE STI closed 1,755.47, down 28.54 points or 1.60% with a total volume of 948M and a total value of S$916M. Total number of advance vs decline was 127 vs 331. Of the 30 component stocks, only 4 closed in the positive, 23 closed in the negative and 3 remained unchanged. The 4 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +0.720
2. SingTel +0.040
3. StarHub +0.040
4. F&N +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. UOB -0.600
2. JSH 500US$ -0.440
3. SIA -0.380
4. DBS -0.280
5. KepCorp -0.150
US markets fell sharply yesterday night after US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's announcement that the government's US$700b bailout package won't purchase troubled assets from banks as originally planned. This news wasn't well received by the markets and ended US markets closed at least 5% down. Asia bourses followed the drop in opening gap down and with Nikkei and HSI both closed at least 5% down. SSE however managed to close positive. STI tested an intra-day low of 1718 and managed to recover some losses through the after trading session. Investors are still very cautious looking for economic data and corporate earnings for direction.
