FTSE STI closed 3,126.63, down 9.63 points or -0.31% with a total volume of 1.32b and a total value of S$891M. Total number of advance vs decline was 146 vs 272. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed positive, 4 unchanged and 19 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.390
2. JMH 400US$ +0.290
3. JSH 500US$ +0.170
4. Semb Corp +0.030
5. ST Engg +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. DBS -0.130
2. CityDev -0.120
3. StarHub -0.060
4. OCBC -0.060
5. SIA Engg -0.050
US markets closed mixed after the non-farm payroll data. Asian bourses were mostly down for the day after series of events happened over the weekend and today. Nikkei -1.01%, SSE -2.86% and HSI -1.75%. STI tracking regional bourses was also in the red but fared better with a drop of 0.31% in thin volume and value. Only 7 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
US unemployment rate stayed 6.7% while number of jobs created was 175k last month, higher than expected despite the poor weather lately. The strong set of data no doubt will allow US Fed to further taper in its next FOMC meeting. Over the weekend, couple of events occurred. Ukraine's situation still remained unsolved after Crimea's Government referendum. China reported its import and export data for last month with export fell 18% from last year surprising analysts but most attributed that to the CNY period. Inflation came in 2% lower than the 2.5% in January and that perhaps give room for Chinese Government to ease monetary policy to fight slow down in growth. Japan reported 4Q GDP this morning coming in at 0.7% below expectation. Those set of data played part in today Asia drop.
STI fell 0.31% as it has no reason to stay positive given the performance of regional bourses. While profit taking was seen from the blue chips, the broader market however still remain in range bound. Should subsequent down days also seeing such a range bound mode, pretty much STI has gone into consolidation stage and awaiting for catalysts to move (could down or up), given the macro picture, it will be biasing towards upside.
