FTSE STI closed 3,280.18, down 40.72 points or -1.23% with a total volume of 1.26b and a total value of S$1.02. Total number of advance vs decline was 93 vs 392. Of the 30 component index stocks, 1 closed positive, 1 unchanged and 28 in the red. The only gainer component stocks was :-
1. Olam +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JMH USD -1.230
2. Jardine C&C -0.890
3. JSH USD -0.320
4. DBS -0.220
5. UOB -0.210
US markets closed mixed last Friday but Asian bourses were all in a sea of red with Nikkei -2.88%, SSE -3.29% and HSI -2.61%. STI fell 1.23% in typical volume and value with only 1 of the 30 index stocks managed to register a gain.
Development from the Greece issue has turned sour over the weekend with Greek PM announced a July 5 referendum to vote on whether to accept the bailout condition despite the deadline for repayment to IMF is tomorrow. Rest of EU leaders over the weekend were planning out contingency measures to tackle the possibility of Greece default and euro exit. Furthermore, to prevent bank run, capital control and banks shut for the week were implemented by the Greek Government. Those practically added up the fear on Greek default and euro exit trigger global markets selling down for the day. China Central Bank over the weekend announced interest rate cut and lowered bank reserve ratio but that also failed to prevent the negative sentiment due to the Greece crisis. Investors will be watching whatever happened after tomorrow repayment deadline and 5th July the referendum. Though most believe Greek will vote to remain in euro but the steps taken by Greek Government so far has indeed raise doubts of Greek sincerity of remain in euro. Other events that investors also monitoring for the week will be tomorrow China official PMI and this Thursday US non-farm payroll data.
STI tracking regional markets fell but to a lesser extend. The sellings were pretty much orderly unlike regional markets. It will be interesting to see how tomorrow 1H window dressing will be. Should there be a dressing up and that could mean funds could be taking shelter in STI amid the current uncertainty due to the Greek crisis. Looking at fundamental of the Singapore market is essential rather than following the herd sentiment globally.
