Market Summary Last Week

Singapore shares ended higher Friday, outperforming the region despite a tepid cue from U.S. markets, but closing out the week flat after a see-saw five sessions for the benchmark Straits Times Index.
"Shares are probably taking their cue from slightly better-than-expected U.S. jobless numbers even though it didn't really give much confidence to Wall Street," said Carey Wong, an analyst at OCBC. He added that traders were also taking the chance offered by Thursday's dip in prices to buy back some shares.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets were more subdued, as players took to the sidelines to await key U.S. employment data due later in the global day.
The 30-share STI closed 0.6%, or 16.91 points higher, at 2,917.95, after reaching an intraday high of 2,931.77. The index has now gained 10.2% so far this year, and analysts say this week's consolidation around the psychological 2900 level is a positive. Rieve Ko, a technical analyst at SIAS Research says by taking a breather following steep gains in 2012, the index is building a base for the next leg of the rally.
Volume was again very high, at 3.43 billion shares compared with 2.99 billion Thursday. The value of shares traded was S$1.655 billion, indicating smaller-cap stocks remain the market's main focus. Gainers outnumbered losers 275 to 142.
Among the small-cap stocks that were in play, MDR Ltd. was the most active, soaring 50% to S$0.009 with a huge 523 million shares traded. The company, which focuses on the distribution and retail of mobile handsets in Singapore, said in response to a query from the Singapore Exchange that it wasn't aware of any possible explanation for the trading activity.
Singapore Airlines Ltd. was the day's major underperformer among blue-chips, falling 3.6% to S$10.61 after posting lower-than-expected fiscal 3Q results. Singapore's flag carrier said late Thursday that net profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell 53% on year to S$135.2 million, which fell short of the S$154 million profit forecast in a Dow Jones poll. The airline struggled with higher fuel prices and reduced demand due to the ongoing global economic downturn, and analysts said these two factors were unlikely to change soon. "We struggle to identify positive catalysts going forward. The outlook for the business does not look exciting to us. Stubbornly high fuel prices are a worry," said Deutsche Bank in a note.

What makes those small-cap stocks active? Retail investor or Big Player? If retail investor is the only one actively trading while big player stops their action... This can lead to another heavy dump of shares in coming few weeks. I prefer wait and evaluate it; assuming the stocks market regain its power is too optimistic now.