FTSE STI closed 2,238.21, down 3.39 points or 0.15% with a total volume of 5.18b and a total value of S$3.0b. Total number of advance vs decline was 543 vs 139. Of the 30 component index stocks, 19 closed positive, 10 closed negative and 1 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.280
2. Wilmar +0.200
3. OCBC +0.170
4. SGX +0.170
5. CityDev +0.140
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -1.200
2. SIA -0.680
3. JSH 500US$ -0.540
4. UOB -0.340
5. DBS -0.100
US markets retreated yesterday night led the the drop in tech stocks prior to the result of the bank stress test. The stress test revealed that all the 19 banks are in good health and 10/19 of them need to raise capital. Bank of America and Citigroup are among the 10. This news lifted the the sentiment the financial sectors and Asia bourses were pretty satisfy with that. Despite investors taking profit for the weekend, Nikkei still managed to close +0.50%, HSI +1.00% and SSE +1.09%. STI gave up earlier gain to close down 0.15% with investors selling off bank stocks to take profit after the past few days run up of bank stock. DBS reported a better than expected earning this morning. STI achieved a record volume for the day when it passed the 5b mark. Tonight will the US unemployment rate data awaiting investors to see the situation of the US economy.
