Market Summary -- 18th Jul 11

FTSE STI closed 3,078.95, down 5.29 points or -0.17% with a total volume of 1.25b and a total value of S$1.12b.  Total number of advance vs decline was 165 vs 382.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 12 closed positive, 17 closed negative and 1 remained unchanged.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. Jardine C&C  +1.020

2. HKLand US$  +0.130

3. Wilmar  +0.090

4. JSH 500US$  +0.080

5. SIA  +0.060

5. JMH 400US$  +0.060

The top 5 loser component stocks were :-

1. CityDev  -0.290

2. SGX  -0.080

3. OCBC  -0.060

4. Olam  -0.060

5. NobleGrp  -0.050

US markets closed positive last Friday with better corporate earning offsetting concern of the US debt ceiling as well as European debt issue.  However, Asian bourses were still concern on both the US debt ceiling ( failed to resolve over the weekend ) and European debt issue ( despite only 9 banks failed to EU stress test ) and traded in negative region for the day.  Nikkei was closed for holiday.  SSE -0.12% and HSI -0.32%.  A weak European opening dropping at least 0.5% and negative DJ future weighed on investors causing them to take profit and stay side lines.  STI closed -0.17% with 12 of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.