FTSE STI closed 3,269.50, down 5.96 points or -0.12% with a total volume of 1.59b and a total value of S$992M. Total number of advance vs decline was 209 vs 217. Of the 30 component index stocks, 8 closed positive, 6 unchanged and 16 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. HongkongLand USD +0.050
2. Olam +0.030
3. SembCorp +0.030
4. StarHub +0.030
5. AscendasReit +0.030
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.790
2. JSH 500USD -0.170
3. JMH 400USD -0.120
4. OCBC -0.040
5. DBS -0.040
US markets closed average +0.5% yesterday and Asian bourses however were mixed for the day. Nikkei -0.56%, SSE -0.01% and HSI +0.27%. STI fell 0.12% in thin volume and value with 8 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
Positive earning from Alcoa and detail of the US Fed minutes for last month FOMC meeting gave US markets the rebound yesterday. According to the FOMC minutes, US Fed should complete tapering of its QE in October this year but gave some dovish detail on interest rate will be hike. That provided some calmness to the markets as investors were concerned of interest rate hike could be sooner than expected. Asia bourses were mixed despite China released its trade data for June this morning. Export rose 7.2% falling short of the expectation of 10.6% and import rose 5.5%. Not a surprisingly good set of data but not a bearish set of data either. Hence, Asian markets were little move by it. More US corporate earning will be rolling out this week and investors will focus on those as these set of earning should reflect on the recovery from 1Q lower earning due to the bad winter weather.
STI was pretty much flat and overall trading activity was again muted with the normal of penny stocks punting that churn volume. While US corporate earning season has started, Singapore corporate earning season will have to wait till next week. Meanwhile, the blue chips and mid-cap stocks were range bound with some probably getting ready for earning play, penny stocks were being rotated as punters punting for quick profit.
