FTSE STI closed 2,950.93, up 5.30 points or +0.18% with a total volume of 1.50b and a total value of S$948M. Total number of advance vs decline was 207 vs 152. Of the 30 component index stocks, 9 closed negative, 3 unchanged and 18 closed positive. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.700
2. JSH 500US$ +0.470
3. F&N +0.070
4. SIA +0.050
5. SembCorp +0.050
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. CityDev -0.130
2. UOB -0.060
3. SGX -0.050
4. OCBC -0.030
5. StarHub -0.020
5. JMH 400US$ -0.020
US markets closed positive last Friday after a positive meeting between President Obama and congress leaders in resolving the fiscal cliff issue. Asian bourses were mostly positive for the day with Nikkei +1.43%, SSE +0.11% and HSI +0.49%. STI though positive but only managed to edge out a +0.18% closing. Volume was thin and 18 of the 30 index stocks register positive closing.
The outcome of the meeting was positive according to the congress leaders but no deal has been reached yet to solve the fiscal cliff. Congress will only commence negotiation after 26th Nov. Investors should not be overly optimistic on that until the final deal has been reached.
Over the weekend, tension in the Middle East piled up but investors seemed to ignore that at the moment. For Europe, this week will be a crucial one as emergency EU Summit will be held to decide on releasing the bailout funds to Greece.
For STI, the positive movement today was mostly short-covering and still very cautious buying. Most especially the funds will be watching for the global events to get a clearer picture before committing to further action. Market should be in range bound condition in the absence of any unexpected events leading to next month the resolving of the US fiscal cliff.
