Straits Times Index   

STI

Walao, sibeh sianz man, all BBs preparing dances and performances for Deepavali izzit ?

 

Think I saw the STI is reviving now...
Hope its not a mirage.

 

juz gota pray that STI at least holds at this level or else everybody's gona be in big trouble 

 

Yep! Just do not understand what is going on. Started joining the market in late..late September. Seemed that whatever I bought goes down in values.

 

Indeed.. really hope that 3pm onwards STI could show upward trends again.. really dun understand with DOW and many other good reports, less Oil price hit record high.. today soooo bloody..

 

Fairygal... :)

I feel so sian that tomorrow is a holiday... because I just love the stock market! ... hehehe..

 

Red again.....sigh.......

May be people profit take for tommorrow public holiday

 

One last hope -- a good Europe opening later......

 

Below water.
Sianz.

 

$come$go,

Actually I prefer it to climb slow but steady. For a change, do it the cheering of a football game way! He he!

Anyway, have a great day tmr!

 

Fairygal... :)

I thought the usual terminology should be "Cheong Arhhh!" ... hehehe...

 

NIkkei, Shenzhen, Topix, SET just slightly below water while the rest of North Asia and SE Asia is in the green. The fut of DOW is in the red, tho it is no longer an accurate yardstick.

C'mon, STI, go go go! Then all of us will have a good peaceful holiday tmr!

 

Is STI approaching below water?
Still so weak after so many good reports.

 

Suddenly, STI halted to a stand-still.
Maybe waiting for opening of HSI to take cue.

 

STOCKS NEWS ASIA-Markets firmer as resource stocks climb



(Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as financial shares continued their recovery, while a surge in oil prices to a fresh all-time high above $97 a barrel overnight helped boost energy firms such as Woodside Petroleum.

U.S. crude , trading at $97.07 at 0020 GMT, hit a life high of $97.10 after the U.S. government predicted robust demand and tight output from OPEC would lead to a supply crunch in consumer nations this winter.

Tokyo's Nikkei average <.N225> was 0.4 percent higher by 0020 GMT, while MSCI's measure of other Asia Pacific stocks <.MIAPJ0000PUS> gained 0.8 percent.

In the previous session, the MSCI index climbed 1 percent, snapping three straight sessions of losses as financial shares rebounded.

Also firmer, South Korea's benchmark KOSPI <.KS11> gained 1.1 percent, while Australia's key S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> advanced 1 percent as investors shrugged off a widely expected interest rate hike and hints of more to come by the Reserve Bank of Australia. [ID:nSYD536] But market players warned that Australian banks may suffer from more rate rises.

"The cumulative effects of higher interest rates sooner or later is going to impact the banks. So I'd be a little cautious right now about the banks," said Michael Heffernan, senior client adviser and strategist at Austock Stockbroking in Australia.

Betting that record high oil prices will lift profits for energy firms, investors snapped up oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum and Japan's oil developer Inpex Holdings <1605.T>, driving both stocks up more than 1.5 percent.

Gold producers were also in favour after bullion hit a a 28-year high of $824.70 an ounce on the back of the rally in oil prices. It was at $823.00 in early Asian trade.

Australia's top gold producer Newcrest Mining added 3.8 percent and Lihir Gold put on 2.2 percent.

Many financial stocks continued to recover from the recent drubbing fuelled by credit fears, with South Korea's Kookmin Bank <060000.KS> gaining 1.2 percent and Macquarie Group advancing 2.4 percent.

Citigroup , which dropped a bombshell this week saying it would write down up to $11 billion in subprime losses, has appointed Richard Stuckey, who helped stabilised the Long-Term Capital Management LP hedge fund, to fix its troubled subprime mortgage portfolio. It's Tokyo-listed shares <8710.T> fell 3.8 percent.

On Wall Street, energy stocks such as Exxon Mobil gained ground, helping send the blue chip Dow <.DJI> up 0.9 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> advanced 1.1 percent.

 

Not sure whether it will cheong as people are more cautious, especially so with the high oil price...

 

Today so many good news and financial reports.
STI should cheong tomorrow, but may be drag down by the high oil price of $96.

 

A flat closing, as expected.
But still have hope for tomorrow as DJ future is green, although only just.

Name	Prev	Last	+/-	%	High	Low
All-S Equities Com	1250.59	1268.70	+18.11	+1.5	1279.68	1265.58
All-S Equities Cons	628.91	636.43	+7.52	+1.2	639.39	629.65
All-S Equities Fin	2533.25	2548.09	+14.84	+0.6	2558.14	2525.32
All-S Equities Hotels	1490.13	1463.94	-26.19	-1.8	1496.75	1463.40
All-S Equities Mfg	1529.56	1577.16	+47.60	+3.1	1577.16	1540.30
All-S Equities MultiI	2839.08	2832.11	-6.97	-0.2	2865.14	2820.28
All-S Equities Prop	1483.46	1499.50	+16.04	+1.1	1506.39	1487.91
All-S Equities TSC	1847.56	1866.09	+18.53	+1.0	1876.45	1850.81
All-SingEquities	1009.61	1021.24	+11.63	+1.2	1023.11	1012.78
BT-SRI	1895.79	1900.84	+5.05	+0.3	1909.16	1882.40
SingEquities Elect	108.39	112.82	+4.43	+4.1	112.82	109.87
SingEquities Foreign	372.07	365.33	-6.74	-1.8	369.74	361.07
SingEquities Mainbd	190.03	191.50	+1.47	+0.8	191.91	190.21
Straits Times Index	3670.18	3683.10	+12.92	+0.4	3704.16	3660.81
UOB Sesdaq	225.58	228.78	+3.20	+1.4	228.83	224.77

 

 

Bank stocks recover after selloff

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian financial stocks mostly stabilized on Tuesday from their latest selloff, helping lift many markets in the region, but persistent worries about further fallout from the credit problems kept a lid on market gains.

Investors in Europe were also seen likely to buy back recently battered financial shares, with financial bookmakers expecting opening gains for all three major European stock indexes.

Modest rises in stock markets halted the yen's rise and also helped oil recover towards $95 a barrel, near a record $96.24 set on November 1. Gold held within reach of a 28-year peak of $810.90 set on Monday.

But investors remained wary after Citigroup's bombshell on Sunday that the largest U.S. bank faces as much as $11 billion more in credit losses.

"I don't think you can read anything into (today's gains). There are still some significant losses to wash through and the question is how much of that had been factored into prices," said Simon Doyle, head of strategy at Schroder Investment Management in Australia.

Tokyo's Nikkei average reversed early gains to end 0.1 percent lower at a fresh 7-week closing low, but MSCI's measure of other Asia Pacific stocks climbed 0.9 percent by 1:22 EST.

The MSCI index had lost 2.1 percent to a 1-½ week closing low in the previous session and has fallen about 4.5 percent from a life high set on November 1.

Investors saw buying opportunities in some blue-chip banking which had been hit hard by the selloff in the sector.

Australia's Westpac Banking Group, Macquarie Group and South Korea's top lender Kookmin Bank all rose more than 1 percent. Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ edged up 0.3 percent.

But Citigroup's Tokyo-listed shares, which started trading this week, fell 6.6 percent, in line with a 4.9 percent slump in its U.S. stock after the banking giant was unable to assure investors that potential write-downs for subprime mortgages won't grow.

South Korea's Woori Financial, which has the biggest exposure to U.S. subprime debt among Korean lenders, fell 1.4 percent.

In Hong Kong, Alibaba.com made a sterling debut, nearly tripling in value after China's largest e-commerce firm raised $1.49 billion in the city's most popular initial public offering.

The stock hit a high of HK$36.05 versus an IPO price of HK$13.50, but was below HK$35 in early afternoon trade.

Among the region's top markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.3 percent by the midday break, steadying from Monday's 5 percent drop.

The record-setting market had been hammered by fears that Beijing will delay plans to allow mainland investors to directly trade in the city's listed securities.

YEN'S RISE HALTED

The rise in stock markets weighed on the yen, which is usually sold to fund purchases of higher-yielding assets when risk appetite grows.

The dollar edged up to 114.60 yen from an overnight low near 114 yen, while the euro popped above 166 yen up from a low of about 165 yen on Monday.

Against the dollar, the euro was at $1.4498, not far off a record high of about $1.4530 set on November 2.

"It is hard to hold big positions either on the dollar or the yen when we're uncertain about the potential for further economic fallout from the credit woes right now," said a senior forex trader at a big Japanese bank.

Among the high-yielding currencies, the Australian dollar nudged up above 92 U.S. cents ahead of a widely expected interest rate hike on Wednesday.

Japanese government bonds (JGBs) were little changed as investors focused on country's first-ever auction of 40-year JGBs, which saw a highest accepted yield of 2.435 percent.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGBs slipped one basis point to 1.57 percent.

 

STI +0.3% at 3680.96, with banks, property stocks leading index higher. Banks shrug off subprime jitters to post gains - UOB (U11.SG) biggest bank gainer +1.5% at S$20.60. Property stocks also up, recouping recent losses, Keppel Land (K17.SG) +0.6% at S$8.30. "The STI should stay in the green today, but I wouldn't want to call it the end of the correction," says DBS Vickers' Yeo Kee Yan; tips 3750 resistance, but still good chance of index drifting down to 3550 in next few weeks if uncertainty persists. Corporate earnings remain in focus - OCBC (O39.SG) reports lunchtime, STX Pan Ocean (V33.SG), SembCorp Industries (U96.SG) after market close. Volume thin; gainers outnumber losers 2 to 1 in broad market. (KIG)