Market Summary -- 19th Jan 11

FTSE STI closed 3,241.96, down 7.62 points or -0.23% with a total volume of 1.72b and a total value of S$1.72b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 292 vs 215.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive, 13 closed negative and 6 remained unchanged.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. SGX  +0.180

2. DBS  +0.140

3. UOB  +0.100

4. SembCorp  +0.080

5. SembMar  +0.070

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$  -0.780

2. Jardine C&C  -0.500

3. HKLand US$  -0.210

4. CityDev  -0.140

5. SIA  -0.120

US markets closed positive yesterday night despite both Apple and Citigroup shares were being sold down.  After market closed Apple and IBM both reported a better than expectation earning whereas Citigroup's earning miss expectation.  Furthermore, economic data also indicated that US manufacturing activities were expanding and that brought some worries off on US economy recovery.  Asian bourses were mostly traded in positive region following that lead with Nikkei closed +0.36%, SSE +1.81% after news from uncited source claimed that China inflation for Dec came in 4.6% while GDP for 2010 came in 10.3%.  HSI closed +1.10%.  STI however bucked the trend closed -0.23% with blue chips having a mixed day.  Bank stocks cushioned the drop by the Jardine group.