FTSE STI closed 2,923.36, down 10.15 points or -0.35% with a total volume of 1.47b and a total value of S$1.46b. Total number of advance vs decline was 173 vs 272. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed positive, 18 closed negative and 5 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +0.380
2. NobleGrp +0.060
3. SIA Engg +0.040
4. HKLand US$ +0.020
5. Wilmar +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.460
2. SIA -0.320
3. JSH 500US$ -0.120
4. SembMar -0.080
5. UOB -0.060
5. SembCorp -0.060
5. Genting -0.060
US markets closed mixed yesterday night after manufacturing data indicating that manufacturing activities still expanding in Jul but was fall short of expectation. Investors were pretty divided with that as on one hand concerning the slowing down of recovery and on the other hand pleased with manufacturing activities still expanding. Asian bourses were also mixed with US performance with Nikkei closed -0.38% ( investors still worrying the slowing down of GDP in Japan as released by yesterday data ), SSE +0.38% and HSI +0.12%. STI was range bound between 2,920 to 2,940 but eventually ended down 10.15 points. Lunch time released of export data showed that export activities slowed down in month of July and fell short of market expectation. That brought some bearish sentiment to the market. Genting was also sold down after days of moving up since reporting a good set of 2Q profit. The selling down of Genting, hitting an intra-day high of $1.68 and closing at $1.52 did some bearish to the market as a whole too. Market now is looking for catalyst or rather lacking of catalyst to move up.
