FTSE STI closed 2,638.40, down 1.34 points or -0.05% with a total volume of 2.1b and a total value of S$1.63b. Total number of advance vs decline was 293 vs 197. Of the 30 component index stocks, 14 closed positive, 12 closed negative and 4 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.460
2. KepCorp +0.130
3. SIA +0.120
4. UOB +0.080
5. HKLand US$ +0.080
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ -1.580
2. CityDev -0.200
3. NOL -0.050
4. OCBC -0.030
5. Olam -0.030
5. ST Engg -0.030
5. Wilmar -0.030
US markets closed in the positive yesterday night which help Asia bourses to recover from yesterday sell down. Nikkei closed +0.15%, SSE +0.23% and HSI -0.31%. HSI only opened in the afternoon session due to typhoon and the short trading hours caused HSI lacking in buying interest eventually closed -0.31%. STI opened in the positive but with weak closing on HSI and weak opening on European bourses, investors chose to take profit to be cautious. Property stocks still under selling pressure due to the tightening of the housing loan measure as announced by the Government yesterday. Commodity stocks were also under selling pressure probably inline with the dropping of crude oil price. S-Reits bucked the down trend with aggressive buying for the day probably due to valuation adjustment towards the upside ahead of next month earnings. Investors are looking for more economic data from US for direction at the moment.
