FTSE STI closed 3,258.01, down 19.52 points or -0.60% with a total volume of 1.79b and a total value of S$1.22b. Total number of advance vs decline was 174 vs 294. Of the 30 component index stocks, 9 closed positive, 3 unchanged and 18 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.070
2. CityDev +0.020
3. GLP +0.020
4. Wilmar +0.020
5. CapMallsAsia +0.010
5. JSH 500USD +0.010
5. SIA +0.010
5. SIA Engg +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Keppel Corp -0.380
2. UOB -0.200
3. DBS -0.100
4. Sembcorp Ind -0.080
5. JMH 400USD -0.060
5. HongkongLand USD -0.060
US markets rose yesterday with at least 0.4% gain and Asian bourses were mixed but mostly down. Nikkei +1.09%, SSE -0.26% and HSI -0.97%. STI was in the red since the start of the bell closing -0.60% in thinner volume and value than yesterday. Only 9 of the 30 index stocks managed to post gain.
Positive corporate earning helped US markets to further move up yesterday but Asia markets were mainly lower for the day due to profit taking and China HSBC flash PMI data for April; coming in at 48.3, still in contraction but improve from 48.0 in March. US markets will have more corporate earning coming through this week and against the lack of important economic data, that would dictate the direction of the market.
STI after past 2 days of up finally subjected to profit taking and part of the sentiment spread from China economic data. For this and next week, couple of the index stocks going XD also weighs on the STI biasing for a mini pull back. As for corporate earning so far, result pretty much in line and no major surprise. Singapore also released its March CPI today with the core inflation rose 2%. This further enforce that investing to hedge against rising inflation should be the utmost objective in current stock market.
