FTSE STI closed 3,482.70, down 4.69 points or -0.13% with a total volume of 1.50b and a total value of S$1.02b. Total number of advance vs decline was 178 vs 287. Of the 30 component index stocks, 11 closed positive and 19 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. JSH USD +0.500
2. HongkongLand USD +0.200
3. UOB +0.110
4. Jardine C&C +0.090
5. Kep Corp +0.080
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. DBS -0.270
2. SIA -0.220
3. SGX -0.120
4. ST Engg -0.070
5. Sembcorp -0.070
5. OCBC -0.070
US markets rallied at least 1% last Friday and Asian bourses were mixed for the day with Nikkei closed for holiday, SSE +0.90% and HSI -0.03%. STI slided 0.13% in those typical thin volume and value day with 11 of the 30 index stocks posted gain.
US markets rebounded from a technical perspective and Asian markets were mixed after series of economic data. Last Friday China official PMI for April came in at 50.1 and this morning China HSBC final PMI for April fell to 48.9 down from preliminary reading f 49.2. That set of data put some negative sentiment to regional markets. SSE however, recovered from loss and closed +0.90% as the weak data only enforced investors that Chinese Government will have to roll out more stimulus. This week will be another of those heavy economic data week as more economic data from China, US and Europe will release. The most focus one will be this Friday US non-farm payroll as investors again use that as a reference to guess when US Fed will do a rate hike.
STI was on a weak day as nothing excite traders and investors to bargain hunt. Stocks doing ex-dividend were facing selling pressure so as other stocks that have risen sharply past weeks were on profit taking. Even stocks that have released their earning regardless of good set of result or not still face selling pressure. From the look of it, STI is still trying to find a support and could be testing the one at 3,450.
