FTSE STI closed 3,291.58, up 7.21 points or +0.22% with a total volume of 3.22b and a total value of S$1.44b. Total number of advance vs decline was 190 vs 209. Of the 30 component index stocks, 14 closed positive, 2 unchanged and 14 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +0.510
2. JSH 500US$ +0.46
3. Jardine C&C +0.370
4. SIA +0.160
5. UOB +0.120
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. CityDev -0.090
2. Wilmar -0.040
3. KepCorp -0.040
4. HKLand US$ -0.030
5. Capitaland -0.030
US markets fell average almost 2% last night after disappointed China 1Q GDP missing expectation, sharp sell off of commodity and a bomb blast at the Boston Marathon. The bright side however was from Citigroup whose earning beating market expectation. Asian bourses reacting to the bomb blast opened in the red but managed to pare loss and closed mixed. Nikkei -0.41% recovering from more than 1% drop, SSE +0.59% and HSI -0.46%. STI managed to recover from red to close slight positive with 0.22% in a daily volume and value slightly higher than yesterday. 14 of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.
The weak global economy data brought out the ongoing question of whether global economy is still on the recovery. Based on past data answer might be not but with Central Banks supporting with monetary easing, the downside is well taken care of and it is just a matter of time when the economy seeing stronger data that all (not to get overly optimistic also as Central Banks meanwhile are creating bubbles too). As for the Boston bomb blast, no conclusion that it was done by terrorists and hence the sharp sell off was a knee-jerk reaction to it.
STI apart from dominated with the global events, it also focused on the corporate earning. So far results were mixed from those who have announced which was pretty much expected. What to look out for is whether corporate earnings are resilient, even if they do not meet market expectation (how accurate is market expectation and on what basis analysts' estimation is correct ?). The knee-jerk sell off today could well be one of the opportunity to buy on dip for those fundamentally strong stocks.
