SGX Singapore Opening Market Update

SINGAPORE share prices opened lower on Thursday with the Straits Times Index down 3.88 points to 3,436.95 at 9am, following mixed corporate earnings in the United States and a second day of congressional testimony from Fed chair Janet Yellen.

In all, some 54.6 million shares worth S$69.3 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 66 to 63.

Among the exchange's most active stocks was Genting Singapore, which broke its S$1 resistance on Wednesday after a disappointing set of Q4 results. Some 5.6 million Genting shares changed hands in early trading, while the stock price stayed flat at S$0.98.

SGX Singapore Closing Market Update

The Straits Times Index on Wednesday rose 3.22 to 3,440.83 and the entire market recorded 240 rises against 193 falls in response to all-time highs recorded by Wall Street's major indices overnight.

Those gains came amidst optimism that the US Federal Reserve is in no hurry to raise its short-term interest rates, following Fed chief's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee.

Jardine Matheson provided the biggest positive support to the STI and Genting Singapore the biggest drag. The latter was also the day's most active stock - disappointing earnings resulting in the counter losing S$0.065 or 6.2 per cent at S$0.98 with 130.3 million shares traded.

SGX Comex Recommendations

INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY NEWS :
Gold prices gained in Asia on Wednesday after better than expected HSBC China flash PMI data, but copper lagged as the gains were seen from domestic demand instead of exports. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery rose 1.02% to trade at $1,209.50 a troy ounce. The HSBC China February flash manufacturing PMI jumped to 50.1, well above the expected drop to 49.5 and up from January’s final 49.7.”Domestic demand firmed while new export orders contracted for the first time since April 2014. Both input and output prices remain in contraction,” said Q Hongbin, Chief Economist, China and joint head of Asian economic research at HSBC.”Today’s data point to a marginal improvement in the Chinese manufacturing sector going into the Chinese New Year period in February. However, domestic economic activity is likely to remain sluggish and external demand looks uncertain. We believe more policy easing is still warranted at the current stage to support growth.”

TRADING STRATEGY :
BUY GOLD ABOVE 1211.25 TARGET 1216.25 1222.25 SL 1205.25
SELL GOLD BELOW 1201.25 TARGET 1196.25 1190.25 SL 1207.25