FTSE STI closed 3,162.51, down 19.57 points or -0.61% with a total volume of 1.65b and a total value of S$1.79b. Total number of advance vs decline was 147 vs 348. Of the 30 component index stocks, 5 closed positive, 22 closed negative and 3 remained unchanged. The 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +0.860
2. JSH 500US$ +0.160
3. HKLand US$ +0.030
4. StarHub +0.020
5. SingTel +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.520
2. SGX -0.230
3. CityDev -0.220
4. DBS -0.200
5. SIA -0.120
US markets closed positive yesterday night but pared off earlier gain. Initially markets were up around 1% when investors cheered for the currency war issue being ironed out by G20 meeting and also better than expected Existing Home Sales data. Soon the foreclosure issue came in as US Fed was determined to tackle that issue and markets sold down near closing. Asian bourses were in range bound mode but unable to hold on to the gain which closed in the red. Nikkei closed -0.25%, SSE -0.32% and HSI -0.11%. With regional bourses all closed in the red and European markets also opened in the red, STI gave up morning gain and closed at day low with -0.61% in a very thin volume day. Attention was also focus on SGX as Australia opposition parties opposed to the merger deal in the parliament. During lunch time, Singapore released its manufacturing data for Sept and came in +26.2% vs market expectation of +18.9%. This has prompted economists to revise Ff GDP number too.
