FTSE STI closed 1,617.44, up 0.65 points or 0.04% with a total volume of 937M and a total value of S$739M. Total number of advance vs decline was 152 vs 198. Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive, 13 closed negative and 6 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. UOB +0.200
2. DBS +0.130
3. CityDev +0.070
3. NobleGrp +0.070
5. SembCorp +0.050
5. CapitaMall +0.050
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -0.400
2. SIA -0.140
3. Jardine C&C -0.110
4. Capitaland -0.060
5. OCBC -0.050
US markets retreated yesterday night due to bad economic data and Asia bourses were mainly cautious today. Nikkei closed -0.04%, HSI -0.85% and -3.87%. STI opened positive in the morning but soon lose the gain as investors chose to take profit and remained cautious. This morning MTI also announced Singapore FY08 GDP with a reading of 1.1% as compared to the previous estimation of 1.2%. US Government will start to conduct the "stress test" for the 19 banks to determine what type of financial aids are required.
