FTSE STI closed 1,905.99, up 8.97 points or 0.47% with a total volume of 3.5b and a total value of S$1.66b. Total number of advance vs decline was 494 vs 131. Of the 30 component index stocks, 18 closed positive, 11 closed negative and 1 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. CityDev +0.140
2. DBS +0.130
3. F&N +0.120
4. JSH 500US$ +0.120
5. Capitaland +0.080
5. Wilmar +0.080
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -1.320
2. SIA -0.160
3. SembMar -0.100
4. HKLand US$ -0.070
5. ST Engg -0.040
5. OCBC -0.040
5. NOL -0.040
US markets fell yesterday night due to weaker than expected retail sales data despite better than expected earning from Goldman Sachs and Johnsons & Johnsons. After market closed, Intel also reported a better than expected earnings but the company gave a weak forecast for the next few quarters. President Obama also gave an account that US economy is slowly improvement but still maintain cautious about it. Asia bourses took the cue from weak US closed and opened mostly in the red. However, later part of the day, some able to reverse the loss and closed positive. Nikkei closed -1.13%, HSI +0.57% and SSE +0.35%. STI reversed early loss and closed above the 1,900 level with a +0.47% gain. Today volume was high with 3.5b traded. Small caps and penny stocks were the main play of the day.
SGX reported its 3QFY09 earning with a drop of 45.5% net profit and declared a dividend of 3.5cents per share.
