FTSE STI closed 1,665.59 down 26.96 points or 1.59% with a total volume of 1.06b and a total value of S$1.01b. Total number of advance vs decline was 150 vs 285. Of the 30 component stocks, 6 closed positive, 23 closed negative and 1 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. SPH +0.130
2. KepCorp +0.090
3. SingTel +0.040
4. UOB +0.040
5. SIA Engg +0.030
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -0.520
2. SIA -0.480
3. DBS -0.400
4. Jardine C&C -0.300
5. CityDev -0.230
Even though US markets did a last hour rally to close in the positive, investors still not buy into the rally and choose to remain cautious and taking profit. Most Asia bourses closed in the negative except for SSE which recovered back yesterday that 6% loss. There is still no solution of the US automaker US$25b bailout as the Congress's view still very much divided. This coming Thursday, US Congress should be voting on the outcome of the bailout. This has kept investors cautious for the moment. A trend detecting in today STI was S-Reits and most defensive stocks were under heavy selling pressure. This could be due to fund redemption. STI has also failed to crawl back to 1,700 level which is bearish in nature. Could be re-testing 1,500.
