FTSE STI closed 3,427.16, up 0.94 points or +0.03% with a total volume of 927M and a total value of S$1.02b. Total number of advance vs decline was 164 vs 228. Of the 30 component index stocks, 15 closed positive, 5 unchanged and 10 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH USD +0.430
2. Jardine C&C +0.240
3. DBS +0.080
4. SingTel +0.080
5. SGX +0.060
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. UOB -0.330
2. Noble -0.095
3. HongkongLand USD -0.040
4. ComfortDelGro -0.040
5. CityDev -0.040
US markets closed positive last Friday and Asian bourses were mostly positive for the day with Nikkei +0.51%, SSE +0.60% and HSI +0.18%. STI was practically flat with very thin very daily volume and value, 15 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
S&P500 hit record high, the first for this year after 53 of those last year as US markets moved up despite a weaker than expected consumer sentiment data. For Asia, Japan released its GDP this morning with 4Q GDP coming in at +0.6% crawling out of recession in 4Q after past 2 quarters of contraction, making annualized growth of +2.2%. However, those data all missed expectation. Nevertheless, the news of getting out of recession was something to be cheered about resulting in Nikkei hitting 8-year high. Rest of region were mostly positive as news that there could be a deal between Greece and EU tonight when they meet up again to resolve the debt issue. This will be a short trading week for most of Asia due to CNY on 19th and 20th.
STI was flat throughout and daily volume was thin too due to the mixed performance of the blue chips. The thin daily volume suggesting that most will be sideline ahead of the CNY holiday period. The main focus for the day was United Engineers in which share price fell more than 15% after the deal for Thai tycoon to buy over OCBC & Great Eastern's UE stake lapsed last Friday. If you look at the no-deal you might see further downside (but limited) but if you look at the picture of property market as a whole it will be a different story and it will be a bargain. As a whole, STI is still upside biased.
