FTSE STI closed 3,284.37, down 9.82 points or -0.30% with a total volume of 2.25b and a total value of S$1.14b. Total number of advance vs decline was 139 vs 265. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed positive, 3 unchanged and 20 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +1.170
2. JSH 500US$ +0.730
3. OCBC +0.040
4. ST Engg +0.040
5. CapitaMall +0.020
5. SIA Engg +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.320
2. SPH -0.260
3. UOB -0.140
4. DBS -0.130
5. GLP -0.070
US markets closed negative last Friday due to miss Retail Sales data against better than expected earning from JP Morgan and Well Fargo. Asian bourses were all in the red with Nikkei -1.55%, SSE -1.12% and HSI -1.43%. STI in line with regional bourses closed -0.30% in thin volume and value day. Only xx of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.
Firstly, US and rest of the world were concern of the sharp weakening of the Japanese Yen and that caused Yen to strengthen which dragged down Nikkei. Secondly, China this morning reported its 1Q13 GDP coming in at +7.7% against expectation of +8.0%. That set of data provided the bearish sentiment for regional markets. China has target of +7.5% GDP for 2013, though that set of data missed expectation (is the expectation setting too high ?), it is still within the target set by the Chinese Government. Global economy is in a stage in which each and individual country has to look after their own growth and not heavily relying on others to provide that growth.
STI also has its own worries when SPH reported last Friday a drop of at least 10% in profit, that causing SPH to be one of the worst performer among the index stocks. Investors apart from worrying about global economy also cautious against a possible not so good set of corporate earnings for most of the Singapore companies. Profit taking were observed but the selling was not fierce, making the index still in range bound phase. As mentioned before, corporate earning is not to compare with last year same quarter but monitoring for improvement or resilient from past consecutive quarters.
