FTSE STI closed 3,418.02, down 13.34 points or -0.39% with a total volume of 1.08b and a total value of S$1.04b. Total number of advance vs decline was 157 vs 268. Of the 30 component index stocks, 7 closed positive, 2 unchanged and 21 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH USD +0.150
2. DBS +0.070
3. OCBC +0.050
4. CityDev +0.020
5. Jardine C&C +0.020
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. SIA -0.290
2. KepCorp -0.250
3. Wilmar -0.060
4. Sembcorp -0.050
5. Capitaland -0.050
5. Ascendas Reit -0.050
US markets dropped at least 0.3% last Friday and Asian bourses were mixed for the day with Nikkei +0.36%, SSE +0.62% and HSI -0.64%. STI fell 0.39% in thinner volume and value with only 7 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
US non-farm payroll for January came in better than expected further confirming strengthening of labor market and that triggered positive opening for US markets but closed in the red with probably profit taking and anticipation of US Fed might rate hike as soon as June this year. Over the weekend, China reported a surprised lower than expected import and export data. That set of data, weak US markets last Friday, worries of Greece if unable to resolve the bailout term will be running out of cash end of this month and renew concern of Russia-Ukraine issue weighed on investors resulting in mixed performance for Asian markets. The poor set of China trade data should further put pressure on the Chinese Government to further ease monetary policy. As for Greece and Russia-Ukraine issue just have to monitor closely how they will be developed into. For rate hike in US, that is not something out of the blue and the impact should not be big given that it will be in minimum step and with various Central Banks going on monetary easing, that effect should be mitigated.
STI gave back some gain from last Friday as investors took profit given the current weak sentiment. Though banking stocks managed to close higher ahead of their earning this week but failed to prevent the index from sinking into the red. The market in general is in range bound or rather consolidation mode which is good to build up a support base for further upside.
