Singapore Stock Market Updates on 05/11/09

Morning Highlights

The STI opened near yesterday’s close and starts trading lower as weighed by Wall Street’s weak finish.

Despite the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, U.S. stocks lost most of its intraday gains and tumbled in the last half hour of trading. Investors now are looking toward October employment data due out Friday morning.

“The dynamic has shifted to where we’re using good news to lock in profits before year end,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist, Jefferies & Co.

Corporate Announcement

SembCorp Marine announced a 3Q09 net profit of $145mn, up 2.8% YoY and the highest quarterly net profit ever attained.

Capitaland sold its Kallang Avenue Industrial Centre and Kallang Bahru Complex sites for S$68m. Capitaland will recognise the $19.2m sale gain in December.

Wednesday News Updates (Business Times)

• Synear Food, one of China’s quick freeze food producers, reported on Wednesday net profit increased 23% to RMB34.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2009. Revenue climbed 4.8% to RMB408.9 million.
• Fortune Reit has posted a 14.1% increase in Q3 distributable income to HK$81.2 million (US$10.5 million), from HK$71.2 million a year ago.
• F J Benjamin saw net profit fall 58% YoY to $459,000 for the Q1 ended 30 September 2009, as a result of weak consumer sentiment in key markets in Asia.
• Sing Investments & Finance said its Q3 net profit doubled to $4.31 million from $2.14 million a year earlier, as interest expenses fell faster than its interest income and hiring charges.
• Sembcorp Marine reported net profit for its fiscal Q3 rose 2.6% to S$144.6 million from S$140.9 million in the year-ago period.
• Elec & Eltek reported its net profit rose 15.7% to US$14.16 million as shipments picked up along with the economy. Revenue however fell 15.2% to US$119.77 million.
• Hyflux reported a 5% rise in Q3 net profit to S$18.1 million from S$17.3 million a year ago. The increase came as revenue fell 29% to S$126.5 million, from S$177.4 million in Q3 2008. The decrease came as the company was hit by a slow down in the China market.
• Liang Huat Aluminium reported net profit for the Q3 ended September 30 tumbled 81.33% to S$604,000. Revenue took a hit, falling 50.43% to S$5.65 million.
• OCBC has agreed to subscribe to 146.32 million new shares instead of 192.42 million shares under Bank of Ningbo’s planned private placement. The subscription price for the shares will remain unchanged at RMB11.63 per share.

Other Markets Updates

1. Time Warner Q3 revenue $7.14B vs $7.58B; Q3 earnings 55C vs 89C; Q3 adjusted earnings 61C vs 65C

2. XTO Energy Q3 earnings 86C vs 94C; Q3 revenue $2.29B vs $2.13B

3. Susser Q3 revenue $882.1M vs $1.21B; Q3 earnings 38C vs 40C

4. Tyco Electronics fiscal Q4 earnings 20C vs 43C; fiscal Q4 adjusted earnings 30C vs 65C

5. Huntsman Q3 revenue $2.11B vs $2.73B; Q3 loss 29C vs 9C loss

6. Malaysia Sept. Exports Down 24.2% On Year, Imports Fall 20.2%; Sept. Trade Surplus At MYR 9.27 billion

7. Private sector employment continued to decrease in the month of October, according to a report released by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) on Wednesday, although the pace of job losses slowed for the seventh consecutive month. The report showed that non-farm private employment fell by 203,000 jobs in October following a revised decrease of 227,000 jobs in September. Economists had expected a loss of 198,000 jobs compared to the decrease of 254,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

8. Treasury to auction record $81 billion next week; $40 billion 3-yr notes; $16 billion in 30-year bonds; reintroduces 30-yr inflation securities and says that it could hit debt ceiling mid-Dec.

9. Microsoft Corp, saddled with flagging software sales thanks to the lingering recession, made an additional, unexpected round of job cuts on Wednesday. It is cutting 800 more jobs in addition to 5,000 layoffs announced previously.

Quick Picks: Here is a quick pick screen that we have designed to pick out potential stocks, both Bullish and Bearish. These are measured with emphasis on larger changes in price and volume. 

Bullish Stocks (Singapore)

Bearish Stocks (Singapore)

Stock Prices last updated at 9:10 (Singapore Time)

Here’s Our Mid Term Holding Opportunities for property shares.

1. Allgreen Properties – Buy at 1.21, Stop Loss at 1.04
2. City Development – Buy at 10.50, Stop Loss at 9.55
3. Wing Tai Holdings – Buy at 1.75, Stop Loss at 1.55
4. Ezra – Buy at 2.08, Stop Loss at 1.66
5. Lookout for Keppel Corp