FTSE STI closed 3,198.52, up 9.90 points or +0.31% with a total volume of 1.83b and a total value of S$1.14b. Total number of advance vs decline was 216 vs 189. Of the 30 component index stocks, 16 closed positive, 5 unchanged and 9 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400US$ +0.930
2. Jardine C&C +0.530
3. JSH 500US$ +0.530
4. DBS +0.200
5. CityDev +0.090
5. UOB +0.090
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Semb Corp -0.080
2. Kep Corp -0.060
3. SembMar -0.040
4. HKLand US$ -0.030
5. GLP -0.030
US markets closed positive with at least 0.8% gain yesterday. Asian bourses were mixed but mostly positive. Nikkei -0.24%, SSE +0.70% and HSI +1.34%. STI continued the surge with another 0.31% gain but volume and value were relatively weaker than yesterday. 16 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.
1Q window dressing pushed US markets higher yesterday and Asian bourses were mixed due to the mixed economic data. Firstly, Japan began its sales tax hike today (from 5% to 8%). The move might be good to pump up inflation allowing Japan to move away from decades of deflation but the impact might hurt its economy in the short to mid term as consumers could be holding back to spend. China released its official PMI data for March coming in 50.3 vs February 50.2. However, the final flash PMI reading from HSCB continued to show contraction. More of economic data from US, China and Europe will be releasing later this week couple with Central Banks' action and that will have investors focus prior to the start of the earning season.
STI after yesterday 1Q window dressing continue the upwards movement probably taking lead from overnight US and today regional bourses performance. Most will expect some sort of pull back this week or the next after next as can be seen from most of the stocks hitting at their respective resistance but failed to breakout from it. This definitely encourage short-seller to try their luck but if stock prices do not fall much for this and next week, can expect short-seller rushing in to close position thereby pushing the price higher.
