FTSE STI closed 3,428.96, down 14.81 points or -0.43% with a total volume of 2.77b and a total value of S$1.38b. Total number of advance vs decline was 183 vs 276. Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive, 1 unchanged and 18 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. CityDev +0.100
2. StarHub +0.050
3. ComfortDelGro +0.030
4. THBEV +0.025
5. CapitaMall +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.600
2. DBS -0.410
3. JSH 500US$ -0.370
4. JMH 400US$ -0.200
5. UOB -0.120
US markets closed at least +0.20% last Friday in a day lack of economic news. Asian bourses were mixed for the day with Nikkei +1.20%, SSE -0.22% and HSI -1.42%. STI down 0.43% in roughly the same volume and value as past days. Of the 30 index stocks, 11 closed positive.
Over the weekend there was a G7 meeting in which G7 leaders all in consensus wanted to boost economic growth. There was no mentioning of fear of currency war brought out by Japan as Japanese Yen continued to weaken against the USD, staying above 100 level. That news boosted the further weakening of Yen and hence popped up Nikkei. Rest of the markets were subjected to profit taking as news of China Industrial Production data missed forecast despite up 9.3%. An event might catch investors attention this week is the US debt ceiling and with markets scaling new high, any bad news from that could be a good excuse for pull back. Should a pull back occur, immediate reaction should not be feared as will have to see how the debt ceiling issue resolves and also the various support levels of the stocks.
STI came off from new 5-year high due to profit taking and STI index stocks going XD. Blue chips were dictating the direction of market while the broader markets continued to show mixed. However, the overall sentiment still bias towards the upside.
