FTSE STI closed 3,092.90, down 10.94 points or -0.35% with a total volume of 1.13b and a total value of S$1.31b. Total number of advance vs decline was 227 vs 229. Of the 30 component index stocks, 10 closed positive, 16 closed negative and 4 remained unchanged. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.420
2. SIA +0.140
3. JMH 400US$ +0.120
4. SIA Engg +0.080
5. F&N +0.060
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ -0.460
2. UOB -0.180
3. OCBC -0.130
4. SembMar -0.120
5. CityDev -0.120
US markets continued to move up yesterday night with DJ closing at least 1% due to buying of banking stocks as banking stocks were given upgrade of bigger dividend payout. Oil price pull back from US$106 also helped the sentiment. Asian bourses were mostly positive for the day with Nikkei closed +0.16%, SSE +0.07% and HSI +0.42%. STI however sank into the red due to profit taking but managed to stay above 3,000 level with resistance at 3,120. Only 10 of the index stocks managed to register a positive closing. Profit taking of the recent run up stocks in KepCorp and SembMar weighed on the index. GLP was up 2.6% as talk of possible inclusion to STI component index this coming Thursday for the semi-annually STI index review. Investors still have an eye on the development of the middle east unrest and oil prices.
