FTSE STI closed 3,147.33, up 6.89 points or +0.22% with a total volume of 2.46b and a total value of S$1.04b. Total number of advance vs decline was 219 vs 181. Of the 30 component index stocks, 14 closed positive, 5 unchanged and 11 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +1.110
2. JSH 500US$ +0.610
3. HKLand US$ +0.120
4. Kep Corp +0.070
5. SGX +0.040
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.570
2. UOB -0.110
3. CityDev -0.040
4. CapMallsAsia -0.025
5. Genting SP -0.020
5. ComfortDelGro -0.020
US markets closed mostly down yesterday and Asian markets initially opened in the red but closed mixed. Nikkei -0.08%, SSE -0.93% and HSI +0.64%. STI opened in the red but managed to recover the loss in the afternoon and closed +0.xx%. Volume and value were thin and xx of the 30 index stocks recorded gain.
It was downbeat corporate earning vs positive economic data yesterday for US markets that caused the mostly negative closing. As mentioned before US markets now very much dictated by corporate earning and hence to certain extend volatile. Asian bourses apart from China were lacking of catalysts. China will be releasing its 4Q2013 GDP on Monday and that will attract lot of focus on it.
Singapore released its non-oil export data for last month coming in surprising all expectation at +6.2% on year vs -8.9% in November. That data should be able to boost 4Q2013 GDP and hence providing some bright spot in 2014 GDP. However, that failed to excite STI in the morning and only in the afternoon when there was a rebound from regional markets and Europe opened positive that STI managed to recover from negative to finally close positive. On the broad market, micro-penny still those very much active stocks for the day but interesting is waning and careful not to get caught. STI could continue to get muted next year as investors winding down ahead of month end CNY. That need not mean negative sentiment. What one should do know is focus on the earning and fundamental. Those that have released their earning so far has been mostly positive but stock prices not reacting much to it. Not moving now doesn't mean will not move up later. Everything start from fundamental, fundamental is the one that can ride through storm and fundamental is the one that eventually reward you.
