Buying fails to reach broad market

MONDAY'S session for the local stock market was marked by wave of short covering in Straits Times Index (STI) stocks ahead of an expected rebound on Wall Street. However, even though the STI recorded a seemingly impressive 13.27 points rise to 3,376.04, the buying did not extend to the broader market - at 5pm, there were only 155 rises versus 284 falls in total.

Also worth bearing in mind was that the STI fell every day last week, dropping 55 points along the way and dipping into the red for the year to date. Monday's bounce meant it is now up 12 points for 2015.

Turnover was weak by recent standards at just over one billion units worth S$901 million, the average value per unit traded at S$0.90 pointing to proportionally more activity in penny stocks. This was borne out by the composition of the top actives list - of the 10 most liquid stocks, seven were priced below 50 cents.