FTSE STI closed 3,292.97, up 3.44 points or +0.10% with a total volume of 4.36b and a total value of S$1.48b. Total number of advance vs decline was 157 vs 322. Of the 30 component index stocks, 15 closed positive, 7 unchanged and 8 closed negative. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ +0.290
2. SPH +0.140
3. CityDev +0.050
4. OCBC +0.050
5. KepCorp +0.040
5. SingTel +0.040
5. SIA +0.040
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.150
2. Wilmar -0.130
3. Capitaland -0.090
4. SIA Engg -0.080
5. SembMar -0.060
US markets continued to move up last Friday after better than expected non-farm payroll data in which unemployment rate dropped to 7.7% as number of jobs added more than expectation. Asian bourses were mostly positive for the day but the underlying still weak. Nikkei closed +0.53%, SSE -0.34% and HSI 0%. STI initially was in the red but managed to crawl back to close slight positive at +0.10%. Total volume and value were thin and 15 of the 30 index stocks posted positive closing.
Over the weekend, China released its January - February inflation figure coming in at +3.2%, a jump from its previous data of below 3% and just +0.3% below its target of +3.5%. The rise in inflation did some negative sentiment to China economy recovery as Chinese Government could slow down the pace to boost the economy with an eye on possible tightening to ease the rising inflation. That event and US better payroll data provided mix sentiment to Asian bourses. Though STI managed to edge out some gain, the broad market however was weak and biased towards the downside. Global markets could be in the zone of moving up just because they want to break record high as other than that there isn't any solid reason for such an upwards movement. Penny stocks in particular were seen under selling pressure as investors who bought last 2 months starting to sell. Good and bad from that. Good is panic and illogical selling will result in bargain opportunity but the bad is as the price drove down, more panic and fear could create resulting in short-term more selling pressure. Mid-cap stocks were also behaving the same.
Panic and fear of selling doesn't mean end of the day but provide bargain opportunity for fundamental stocks. Market looks set to hit a bottom somewhere between end of March to middle of April follows by consolidation (side way, range bound) till end of June.
