Singapore shares closed slightly lower on Friday amid lower volumes as traders were unwilling to take fresh positions ahead of the weekend, while Wilmar International fell after being asked by the Chinese government to keep edible oil prices steady.
The 30-share Straits Times Index fell 0.2%, or 6.08 points, to close the day at 2,998.49 after touching an intraday high of 3,029.53. However, the benchmark fell below the psychologically important 3,000 mark in the latter half of the trading session.
The markets had started on a positive note, buoyed by a statement Thursday by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who said the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the common-currency union.
Shares of 184 companies gained while 171 ended lower on Friday. However, volumes were lower at 1.24 billion compared with 1.46 billion on Thursday and the benchmark finished the week with a 0.6% loss.
"It's a Friday...Things might happen over the weekend. Investors might not be willing to take positions at this point in time," said Lee Kok Joo, head of research at Phillip Securities. He added that the ECB's statement of support "might not be enough to bring cheer to the market over the weekend."
Singapore Airlines closed 0.7% lower at S$10.82 as some investors sought to cash in on the carrier's 2% gain on Thursday after it reported improved income in the April-to-June quarter.
Wilmar was the worst performer on the benchmark with a 4.4% loss to end the day at S$3.28. The company said that the Chinese government has advised edible-oil producers to avoid raising prices "unless absolutely necessary." The move possibly reflects that the government is worried about resurgent food prices despite inflation ebbing to its lowest level since January 2010, after a sharp weather-driven rally in U.S. grain prices late last week.
In contrast, other commodity firms were among the biggest gainers on Friday as investors hoped efforts in Europe to staunch the region's economic crisis would benefit suppliers. Olam International ended the day with the biggest gains among the 30-STI stocks. Its shares gained 2% to S$1.80. Noble Group was up 1% at S$1.045 while Golden Agri-Resources gained 0.7% to end at S$0.715.
Singapore's telecommunications companies, considered relatively safer bets in a volatile market, also gained. Singapore Telecommunications rose 1.2% to S$3.48 and smaller rival StarHub was 1.1% higher at S$3.68.
Just to share.
In my previous post, http://sharesdiscussion.blogspot.nl/2012/07/market-summary-13-july-2012.html i was saying the 3000 points will be penetrated and do not be excited if that happened. I think that situation still apply on current STI. Past week STI falls below 3000 points again; it will keep struggling at this level.
If any negative news releases, it is advisable to sell off your short term scheduled stocks immediately and wait for bottom shopping. If STI unable to firm itself better at 3000 points, deep slump will definitely happen. Anyway STI remains uptrend now, the chance to go higher is increasing unless any shocking news being released at near term.
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