FTSE STI closed 2,762.14, down 20.41 points or -0.73% with a total volume of 1.20b and a total value of S$1.21b. Total number of advance vs decline was 243 vs 196. Of the 30 component index stocks, 4 closed positive, 24 closed negative and 2 remained unchanged. The 4 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.460
2. SembMar +0.060
3. SIA +0.020
4. F&N +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMG 400US$ -0.680
2. UOB -0.180
3. DBS -0.160
4. JSH 500US$ -0.100
5. SGX -0.100
US markets pulled back at least 1% yesterday night after a worse than expected consumer confidence data. Asia bourses took the cue and mostly traded in the negative region for the day. Nikkei closed -1.48%, SSE managed to reverse the early loss and closed +1.33% and HSI -0.75% despite announcing FY10 budget in which was quite similar to Singapore's budget. STI was trading in negative region for the day with property stocks continued to face selling pressure in reaction to the cooling measures being announced recently. The only bright side was SembMar continued to move up after brokers' buy call in reaction to its better than expected earning. There were some heavy trading activities at the mid-cap stocks in particular those shipping related. Investors will be looking at tonight US Fed Chief's speech to justify the reason for the recent discount rate hike.
