FTSE STI closed 3,297.84, down 26.55 points or -0.80% with a total volume of 1.27b and a total value of S$1.02b. Total number of advance vs decline was 135 vs 273. Of the 30 component index stocks, 8 closed positive, 2 unchanged and 20 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. CityDev +0.050
2. HongkongLand USD +0.040
3. ComfortDelGro +0.030
4. SIA +0.020
5. StarHub +0.020
5. UOB +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH 400USD -1.520
2. JSH 500USD -0.710
3. Jardine C&C -0.270
4. DBS -0.180
5. SPH -0.150
US markets closed positive last Friday and Asian bourses were mostly positive for the day. Nikkei +0.08%, SSE +2.86% and HSI +0.19%. STI however fell 0.80% in typical daily volume and value with only 8 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
US non-farm payroll data came as surprise last Friday with number of jobs created for November hitting more than 300k, far more than expected but unemployment rate remained at 5.8%. That allowed US markets to close positive with DJ and S&P500 hitting another record closing. While the strengthening of labor market should be a good news to US economy but there is also concern that US Fed could start to raise interest rate sooner than expected. For Asia, it was another eventful day with Japan's revised 3Q GDP showed economy shrank more than initially estimated, contracting an annualized 1.9% and China reported a soft set of trade data with export +4.7% vs +11.6% in the previous month and import -6.7% vs +4.6% the previous month. The weak set of data spur believe that Chinese Government will launch more stimulus and that fuel SSE to rise more than 2%.
STI failed to perform like regional bourses as the falling oil price weighed on oil-related stocks which in turn put pressure on general market. STI closed below 3,300 level pretty weighed down by the Jardine group of shares. Selling of oil-related counters continued and with European markets opened in the red in the afternoon, investors preferred to be on the cautious side and wait for further weakness in price before bargain hunting.
