𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐩 (𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟖/𝟗/𝟐𝟔)
The $STI(STI.SI) looks set for a second straight week of losses.
It started the week trying to hold above 5,700, but by Tuesday, that level had already become more ceiling than floor. From a weekly high of 5,725, the index slipped to 5,643 as of Friday morning, down about 1.4% from the high.
Still, while the broader market softened, a few pockets were very much alive.
Amid elevated oil prices, the plantation names stood out. $Bumitama Agri(P8Z.SI), which is closely tied to CPO prices, broke above the key $2.19 resistance and went on to hit a record high of $2.46 as of Friday noon.
$First Resources(EB5.SI) also pushed to a fresh all-time high of $5.24, extending an uptrend that has been in place since June. From $4.33 at the start of the week, it climbed to $5.13 by Friday morning, a gain of about 18%.
Sometimes when the index is quiet, the action simply moves elsewhere.
$ST Engineering(S63.SI) surged on the last day of the week after Goldman Sach gave out a BUY rating on it, with target price $13.20. It has been on a downtrend since 18 Aug, falling from $11.24 to a low of $10.10. On Friday, it gapped up to touch a high of $10.70 before settling at $10.63 as of Friday morning.
$SGX(S68.SI) had a less cheerful week after Macquarie downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral, with a target price of $20.30. After being one of the key drivers of the STI’s strong run this year, expectations are understandably higher now. At these levels, even good companies can find the market asking, “What’s next?” The chart doesn’t look good for the near term as 10MA cuts below the 50MA this week, suggesting near term selling pressure. At $22.27 as of Friday morning, it translates to a weekly loss of 8.3% from last week closing of $24.30.
And I think we all know what happened to $ULTRAGREEN AI USD(ULG.SI) over the past few weeks. News of a competitor entering the US market saw the share price tumble from around US$1.20 to a record low of US$0.53 before consolidating. On Thursday, however, we finally started to see some small green shoots technically, with the stock gaining 9.9% to close at US$0.61. It is definitely not out of the woods yet. Much more needs to happen on the chart before we can talk about a turnaround.
As mentioned in a Zaobao interview earlier in the week, a new competitor entering does not automatically mean the existing leader loses. The new entrant still has to scale, win hospital adoption, build customer confidence and eventually take meaningful market share. That takes time. The competitive risk is real, but I also think the market reaction may have run ahead of what has actually changed in the business.
My fuller take here:
Rgds,
Dan
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