Market Summary -- 18th Apr 11

FTSE STI closed 3,144.38, down 8.92 points or -0.28% with a total volume of 1.25b and a total value of S$1.36b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 159 vs 312.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive, 17 closed negative and 2 remained unchanged.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$  +0.620

2. JSH 500US$  +0.080

3. SIA  +0.060

4. SembMar  +0.050

5. CityDev  +0.040

5. KepCorp  +0.040

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. Jardine C&C  -0.520

2. OCBC  -0.100

3. DBS  -0.100

4. SGX  -0.070

5. HKLand US$  -0.070

US markets closed positive last Friday but might face selling pressure this week as corporate earning take center stage.  With China over the weekend raised bank reserve ratio by another 50 basis point, the sentiment was weighed down by it.  Nikkei closed -0.36%, SSE +0.22% and HSI -0.74%.  STI was down 0.28% with only 11 of the index stocks managed to close positive despite reporting an non-oil export for the month of March to be +10.0% vs +4.7% expected.  Investors remained cautious ahead of corporate earnings for the time being.  STI immediate support is at 3,110 - 3,120 level while resistance caps at 3,180.