FTSE STI closed 3,398.52, down 12.98 points or -0.38% with a total volume of 1.41b and a total value of S$1.48b. Total number of advance vs decline was 204 vs 262. Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive, 4 unchanged and 15 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. KepCorp +0.060
2. SPH +0.040
3. HongkongLand USD +0.030
4. GLP +0.020
5. SingTel +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. UOB -0.380
2. CityDev -0.370
3. JMH USD -0.310
4. JSH USD -0.260
5. DBS -0.230
US markets closed mostly in the red last Friday. Asian bourses overcame the fall and closed mixed for the day with Nikkei -0.25%, SSE +0.96% and HSI +0.24%. STI after 5 straight days of gain pulled back 0.38% in typical daily volume and value with 11 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
Weak corporate earning from US caused US markets to pull back last Friday. Asian bourses started the day in red after weak lead from US markets and the outcome of Greece election. Leftist or anti-bailout party won the Greece election on Sunday and that posed a question of will the newly formed Greek Government re-negotiate the bailout term or even worst case of exiting Euro. That initially caused Asia markets to react negatively but most managed to recover part of day loss and even turned positive for some. Technically speaking should an exit for Greece from Euro, that should be able to contain within Europe and not spill to rest of the world but then the panic reaction (should it happen) could do damage to global stock markets.
STI was down for the day due to more on profit taking especially blue chips after a strong ran up last week. Investors are waiting to see how the Greece situation going to pan out. Meanwhile, after the KepCorp acquisition of Kepland last week, the next counter subjects to that is United Engineers which was up more than 3% today ahead of this Friday deadline, a deadline in which to know whether Thai tycoon will buy over OCBC portion of United Engineers and thereby launching a takeover bid. Putting those aside, general market still up in earning play and in need to find a short-term support after last week ran up.
