FTSE STI closed 3,093.84, up 1.70 points or +0.05% with a total volume of 1.92b and a total value of S$944M. Total number of advance vs decline was 197 vs 217. Of the 30 component index stocks, 14 closed positive, 1 unchanged and 15 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +1.700
2. JSH 500US$ +0.710
3. JMH 400US$ +0.290
4. UOB +0.070
5. HKLand US$ +0.050
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. DBS -0.070
2. GLP -0.050
3. ST Engg -0.040
4. OCBC -0.040
5. StarHub -0.030
5. Capitaland -0.030
US markets closed positive with average 0.90% gain. Asian bourses taking the cue were mostly positive with Nikkei +0.94%, SSE +0.08% and HSI +0.51%. STI opened positive, moved to negative for most part of the day, closing flat with +0.05% in thin volume and value day. 14 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.
Investors mostly eased off the fear of Crimea's vote to part from Ukraine and rejoin Russia. Apart from Russia, rest of the world was against this with US and EU ready to apply more sanctions on Russia should Russia accepts Crimea. The ball is in Russia side now to see how it will react. Investors also awaiting for today and tomorrow US Fed FOMC meeting. Most believe US Fed will continue the taper with another US$10b reduction from this meeting. After 9 months investors should focus on US Fed tapering ? That is definitely looking at the wrong thing.
STI opened positive but failed to maintain that as profit taking kicked in another those quiet activity day. Much of the activities were by short-term and day punter trying to play the catch the rebound type to churn profit. The general trend of STI still pretty much in range bound mode and that will go on until April when the earning season starts again.
