Less interest in higher-priced issues

SOMETIMES the movement of the Straits Times Index (STI) doesn't properly represent how the broad market performed at any given point in time. This is often when a few large cap components exert a lopsided influence on the index, thus giving the impression of a session that was either stronger or weaker than it actually was.

Wednesday's session however, was not one such occasion - the STI rose 5 points and stayed there for virtually the whole session, before weakening in the final 20 minutes. Its eventual loss of 6.58 points at 3,415,53 accurately suggested a session that was boring, weak and lacking in notable features - which it was. Excluding warrants, the advance-decline score was 210-229.

Turnover amounted to 1.4 billion units worth S$1 billion, of which S$301.7 million was done in STI components. The average value per unit traded was S$0.71, which was slightly lower than S$1 average of the past couple of weeks, suggesting less interest in higher priced issues. The day's top four most active counters were all priced below S$0.50 - Advance SCT, PNE Micron, IHC and Golden Agri Resources.