FTSE STI closed 3,032.66, down 1.15 points or -0.04% with a total volume of 1.21b and a total value of S$1.03b. Total number of advance vs decline was 157 vs 172. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed positive, 4 unchanged and 19 closed negative. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +1.980
2. JSH 500US$ +0.800
3. KepCorp +0.080
4. Capitaland +0.040
5. DBS +0.030
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -1.130
2. SGX -0.080
3. UOB -0.070
4. SIA -0.060
5. Olam -0.060
US markets closed negative again yesterday night as concern of poor earning drag down the market together with IMF lowered global target. Asian bourses were mixed for the day with Nikkei -0.58%, SSE -0.81% and HSI +0.38%. STI closed -0.04% in thin volume day with only 7 of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.
S&P downgraded Spain's rating to just a notch above junk and coupled with negative closing from US markets affected the sentiment for Asian bourses. The selling might have eased after past days of selling.
STI spent most of the day in negative but managed to turn slight positive towards the closing stage however upon closing, fell 1.15 points. The drop mainly due to SingTel falling 4 cents after news of it won the non-exclusive rights to broadcast BPL for next 3 seasons. Concern was it might over paid again for the rights. The non-exclusive right could also mean Starhub could also bid for the right to broadcast but comment from Starhub was it has to see whether the bid price is reasonable for it to bid for it or not. In general, there were couple of short-covering and very cautious bargain hunting in supporting the market at the moment.
Singapore will release its final 2Q GDP tomorrow and will see whether it enters a technical recession or not. Earning season also commences tomorrow for Singapore with SPH releasing its FY earning.
