FTSE STI closed 3,303.39, down 18.93 points or -0.57% with a total volume of S$1.19b and total value of S$875M. Total number of advance vs decline was 139 vs 268. Of the 30 component index stocks, 4 closed positive, 1 unchanged and 25 in the red. The 4 gainer component stocks were :-
1. UOB +0.120
2. SIA +0.040
3. ThaiBev +0.025
4. Capitaland +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C -0.700
2. JSH 500USD -0.590
3. Sembcorp -0.140
4. OCBC -0.140
5. DBS -0.110
US markets closed average +0.60% yesterday and Asian bourses were however mixed for the day. Nikkei +0.32%, SSE +0.59% and HSI -0.95%. STI fell 0.59% in a half-day trading with typical daily volume and value and only 4 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
Positive November car sales data in US and with oil price rebounded enabled US markets to close positive with DJ hitting another record closing. Asian bourses initially opened positive tracking US markets but closed mixed. Nikkei closed positive prior to the election and China ended positive too in anticipation of further stimulus from PBOC. Rest of the regional bourses were mixed with concern of low oil price still weighed on investors. Though oil price might have stabilized, fund managers probably trying to sell off their oil-related stocks in their portfolio to adjust their end of the year portfolio to minimize losses due to the oil-related stocks.
STI only opened for trading from 12.30pm onwards due to a software glitch from SGX. What caused the glitch and who were the one affected still unclear. For the half-day, STI was under selling pressure in particular those oil-related stocks despite oil price starting to get stabilize for the time being. Could be due to the SGX software glitch in which fund managers trading to undo some "errors" or fund managers as mentioned selling off oil-related stocks in their portfolio in order to minimize annual portfolio losses. Putting oil-related stocks apart, broader market sill pretty much in range bound mode.
