1. JMH 400US$ +0.280
2. JSH 500US$ +0.260
3. KepCorp +0.220
4. Jardine C&C +0.210
5. UOB +0.190
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. CityDev -0.120
2. NOL -0.030
3. Wilmar -0.030
4. NobleGrp -0.020
5. GoldenAgr -0.015
US markets rallied at least 1.3% yesterday night despite higher than expected jobless claim but a better than expected trade gap and recovering for the lost of 2 days ago. Asian bourses taking the cue also traded in positive region for the day. Nikkei closed +1.19%, SSE +0.35% and HSI +1.84%. STI closed +0.33% in a very high volume day of more than 4 billion but total value came in at only S$1.40b indicating high level of penny stocks play. Of the 30 index stocks, 18 closed positive.
A very eventful days firstly with investors cheering with US positive closing, Google reported better than expected earning after market closed. Next, North Korea finally launched the rocket but the launched was a failure, Singapore reported a better than expected 1Q2012 GDP coming in +9.9% vs +6.3% expected and next China's 1Q2012 GDP came in +8.1% fell short of the +8.4% expected. Initial worrying of North Korean's rocket was soon dismissed after the rocket failure and Singapore strong 1Q GDP together with yesterday KepCorp's LOI of more than US$4b contracts boosted offshore/marine stocks, helping STI to open strongly. Later on when China released a weaker than expected GDP, market soften. For the China GDP, a weak number will put pressure on China Government to roll out stimulus which supposed to please investors while a stronger than expected number will indicate the world number 2 economy is holding up well to cushion global economy. Regardless of what the case, one concluding fact is the figure strongly indicating China will not going into hard landing.
In the afternoon, STI weaker as European bourses together with US futures sink into the red and caused investors to take profit over the weekend hence causing STI to ease most of the gain and close flat. JP Morgan will be the first US bank to report earning tonight and all eyes will be on US financial bank.
