FTSE STI closed 1,704.60, down 2.79 points or 0.16% with a total volume of 890M and a total value of S$873M. Total number of advance vs decline was 131 vs 227. Of the 30 component index stocks, 12 closed positive, 13 closed negative and 5 remain unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +0.560
2. KepCorp +0.100
3. SembCorp +0.080
4. CityDev +0.070
5. NOL +0.050
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. UOB -0.260
2. Jardine C&C -0.180
3. Wilmar -0.110
4. Capitaland -0.070
5. SIA Engg -0.040
5. HKLand US$ -0.040
US markets fell yesterday night due to weak corporate earnings report despite a good home sales data. Asia bourses initially ignored that and traded in the positive region but when Nikkei and SSE suddenly fell to negative region, it weight down the whole sentiment for Asia bourses wherenby investors start taking profit and caused index to drop. HSI trimmed its gain and closed +0.88%, Nikkei closed -1.11% and SSE -0.46%. STI gave up all the positive gain before the lunch break and closed -0.16%. Bank stocks led the drop, property counters were mixed while commodity stocks are holding up well.
