FTSE STI closed 2,708.12, down 4.03 points or -0.15% with a total volume of 1.64b and a total value of S$1.20b. Total number of advance vs decline was 199 vs 270. Of the 30 component index stocks, 13 closed positive, 12 closed negative and 5 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +0.280
2. JSH 500US$ +0.180
3. OCBC +0.100
4. Olam +0.060
5. KepCorp +0.050
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. SIA -0.260
2. SGX -0.170
3. HKLand US$ -0.060
4. SPH -0.050
5. Capitaland -0.050
US markets continued the advance yesterday night with better than expected earning from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup; despite Citigroup suffered heavy loan losses. After the bell, IBM and Google posted another set of better than expected earnings. This sentiment caused Asia bourses to open positive for the day but with weekend round the corner, investors chose to take profit after recent rally, most indexes closed flat. Nikkei closed +0.19%, SSE -0.11% and HSI -0.31%. STI still holding above the 2,700 level despite closing flat at -0.15% with blue chips posted mixed gainer and loser. STI is now trading within the consolidating range of between 2,680 to 2,720/2,740 and would require catalysts to push the index to have more upside. Investors should be eying on the earnings from the heavy weight index stocks schedule to roll out from last week of Oct onwards.
