FTSE STI closed 1,705.29, down 41.18 points or 2.36% with a total volume of 773M and a total value of S$804M. Total number of advance vs decline was 115 vs 250. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed positive, 22 closed negative and 1 remain unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ +0.140
2. JMH 400US$ +0.120
3. ST Engg +0.060
4. NOL +0.030
5. SIA Engg +0.020
5. StarHub +0.020
5. Wilmar +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. UOB -0.340
2. DBS -0.320
3. Jardine C&C -0.180
4. CityDev -0.160
5. OCBC -0.150
US markets retreated last Friday after GDP figure showing US economy contracted 3.8% for 4Q08. Fear of deepening recession in US, Asia bourses mostly opened lower with Nikkei closed -1.50%, HSI closed -3.14% and SSE reopened from CNY managed to buck the trend closing +1.06%. STI retreated 2.36% with banks and SingTel dragging down the index. There are lot of economic data this week with the employment situation this Friday and US Congress debating on the Obama's stimulus bill early the week. These coupled with corporate earnings are weighing down investors' sentiment and choose to take profit from last week post-CNY rally and maintain cautious.
