Market Summary -- 21st Dec 11

FTSE STI closed 2,673.32, up 58.87 points or +2.25% with a total volume of 799M and a total value of S$742M.  Total number of advance vs decline was 321 vs 139.  Of the 30 component index stocks, 26 closed positive, 2 closed negative and 2 remained unchanged.  The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-

1. JMH 400US$  +2.040

2. JSH 500US$  +1.390

3. Jardine C&C  +1.350

4. UOB  +0.640

5. DBS  +0.440

The 2 loser component stocks were :-

1. SIA Engg  -0.020

2. Starhub  -0.010

US markets closed at least +2% yesterday night with a better than expected housing start data, ECB's act of extending 3 year loan to bank which most European banks could be seen borrowing and Spanish bond auction performed better than expected.  Asian bourses taking the cue also up for the day.  Nikkei closed +1.48%, SSE -1.12% and HSI +1.86%.  STI closed +2.25% outperform most of regional bourses in a very thin volume trade of less than 1 billion.  Short-covering and possibility of window dressing before Christmas would be the reason for it.  With thin volume, concerns will be will the upwards momentum continue or can lead to volatile session with wild swing.  Investors will be looking for more economic data from US like GDP for rest of the week for direction.  From Europe side, nothing new events happened lately too.