FTSE STI closed 3,307.80, down 13.97 points or -0.42% with a total volume of 2.89b and a total value of S$1.06b. Total number of advance vs decline was 139 vs 254. Of the 30 component index stocks, 3 closed positive, 3 unchanged and 24 in the red. The 3 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ +0.190
2. SingTel +0.060
3. OCBC +0.030
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. UOB -0.310
2. JMH 400US$ -0.250
3. Jardine C&C -0.150
4. HKLand US$ -0.120
5. SGX -0.110
US markets closed average 1% down after dismay economic data. ADP data and non-manufacturing data for March all came in below expectation, indicating the slower than expected recovery in US economy. Asian bourses mostly in the red with Nikkei +2.20% and both SSE and HSI were closed for holiday. STI though closed in the red but was mostly muted. Daily volume and value were thin and only 3 of the 30 index stocks managed to register positive closing.
The weaker than expected US economic data could be due to the effect of sequestration in which the US Government did nothing to prevent it. The weaker than expected recovery might cause some fear short-term but that should ensure US Fed to continue maintain monetary easing. BOJ this afternoon affirmed rolling out aggressive monetary easing via bond buying and that caused Japanese Yen to weaken and rallied the Nikkei to more than 2%. Rest of the bourses were not so lucky as investors taking cue from US markets overnight selling down to square off position. Most are expecting an overdue correction to occur as lot of factors could trigger that like North Korea issue, weaker than expected coming corporate earning, EU debt issues, etc and the list go on. Those are not news issue but except for North Korea (will it really start a war ? ). As such, those are very good excuses to sell off the market.
The important of corporate earning is not to compare how it fare the same period last year but rather is there a continue improvement from the previous quarters. Market though was weak but dividend stocks were gaining strength and resilient. Should it have a correction which most anticipated, those will not be spared either. Watch out for market bottoming within the next 2 weeks and not second guess on when correction will come.
