FTSE STI closed 2,320.82, down 31.73 points or -1.35% with a total volume of 1.38b and a total value of S$1.14b. Total number of advance vs decline was 176 vs 251. Of the 30 component index stocks, 2 closed positive, 24 closed negative and 4 remained unchanged. The 2 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ +0.240
2. SIA Engg +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. DBS -0.340
2. Jardine C&C -0.320
3. CityDev -0.200
4. UOB -0.180
5. JMH 400U$ -0.140
US markets were up at least 0.5% with positive economic data of ISM and housing. Asia bourses took the clue and started in the positive region for the day. However, as day passed by, investors chose to take profit from the rebound and caused most of the indices to reverse the gain. Nikkei closed -0.64%, SSE +1.73% and HSI -1.09%. STI gave up early gain and closed -1.35% with investors taking profit off blue chips from bank, property, offshore/marine and commodity stocks. Investors are awaiting for tonight US unemployment rate, Jobless claims and factory order data to re-evaluate the economic condition of US. US will be the last trading day for the week as they will close on Friday for Independence Days.
