FTSE STI closed 3,026.61, down 11.76 points or -0.39% with a total volume of 1.39b and a total value of S$1.04b. Total number of advance vs decline was 116 vs 253. Of the 30 component index stocks, 8 closed positive and 22 closed negative. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. HKLand US$ +0.100
2. GLP +0.090
3. SIA Engg +0.050
4. CapitaMall +0.020
5. Genting SP +0.015
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.790
2. JMH 400US$ -0.320
3. SembCorp -0.100
4. KepCorp -0.100
5. DBS -0.100
US markets closed mixed yesterday after 2 days shutdown due to the hurricane. Asian bourses were mostly positive for the day with Nikkei +0.21%, SSE +1.72% and HSI +0.83%. STI however bucked the trend with a 0.39% drop in a thinner volume as compared with past days. Only 8 of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.
Investors tracking the US were mixed as the damage done by the hurricane is at least US$20b dent to its economy but on the other hand when has destruction, there will be reconstruction. The reconstruction to the damage could also help to boost US economy by creating jobs. Nevertheless, the hurricane issue is a short-term for US and months later everything should be stabilize.
Most Asian bourses were cheered by China official PMI data released this morning, coming in at 50.2 rebounded after 7 quarters of slowdown. The good news for China without any doubt boost the buying sentiment in SSE and HSI as domestically the companies should benefit from the rebound. Singapore however was not really involved as unlike Hong Kong, Singapore does not belong to China. The weakening in STI mainly due to funds selling, probably switching out to HSI in which Hong Kong should be beneficial to the China economy rebound. Most of the selling were targeted towards those high-yield stocks and those whose share prices have risen quite a substantial amount for the past months. The price drop in high-yield stocks like S-Reit could see an adjustment of around 0.5% dividend yield equivalent. That is however not a bad sign as this will bring down to prices of those S-Reits to a more attractive value for investors who have missed out past months.
DBS being the first local bank to report its earning this morning posted a better than expected set of result but that didn't quite ease the selling sentiment as concern of weak loan ahead.
In general, STI should be hitting a near-term bottom in couple of days when the buyers absorbed all the current sellers. Current sellers could be from European funds as STI for past days get weaken in the afternoon when European bourses opened despite those markets still trading in positive.
