Morning Highlights

Singapore market started strong on Monday, after US jobs data came in better than expected, with STI gapped up 30.87 points to open at 2821.16.

Japanese shares jumped on rise in crude prices that helped to lift the shares of oil firms and a weaker yen further buoyed shares of major exporters. Nikkei added 1.8% to 10,555.25 after tapping a six-week high of 10,567.25, while the broader Topix added 1.6% to 925.14.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive, as supported by the strong gains on Wall Street. A surge in commodity prices also is expected to provide support, along with steel, financial, technology and property stocks.  U.S stocks have rebounded to their year-to-date highs in January this year.

  • Visitor arrivals in Singapore are estimated to increase to 11.5 million-12.5 million in 2010, the Singapore Tourism Board reported on Friday.

  • Singapore will be releasing January Retail Sales numbers on Friday 12th March.

Here’s a list of stocks that breakout today:

  • Sembcorp Marine broke resistance at 3.91

  • Ezra broke resistance at 2.34

  • Osim broke resistance at 0.78

  • Super Coffeemix broke resistance at 0.725

  • China Fishery broke resistance at 1.98

 

Our Market Outlook has shifted from neutral to bullish since index has managed to clear 2800 level.  However, financial sector is still weak…

 

News Updates:

  1. Japan’s current-account surplus totalled 899.8 billion yen ($9.93 billion) in January, slimming from a 900.8 billion yen surplus in December but marking a swing from the year-earlier deficit of 1.33 trillion yen, according to Ministry of Finance data released Monday.

  2. Japan February Bank Lending  down 1.6% on year, the Bank of Japan said on Monday, standing at 400 trillion yen. That follows a 1.7 percent annual decline in January.

  3. Euro zone will help Greece if it needs be, says Sarkozy.

  4. U.S. jobless rate holds steady at 9.7% as February nonfarm payrolls fall just 36,000.

  5. U.S. consumer credit increased by about $5.0 billion in January following a revised decrease of about $4.6 billion in December; the first time since January 2009, marking the biggest increase since July of 2008.  

Important News Release Dates

In U.S.

  1. Tuesday 09/03/10: IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism in March

  2. Wednesday 10/03/10: ABC Consumer Confidence for the week, Bloomberg Global Confidence in March, January’s Wholesale Inventories

  3. Thursday 11/03/10: Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Claims

  4. Friday 12/03/10: U. of Michigan Confidence and Advance Retail Sales

In Europe

  1. Today 08/03/10: Sentix Investor Confidence in March

In Asia

  1. Wednesday 10/03/10: China’s February Export numbers; Japan’s Machine Orders 

  2. Thursday 11/03/10: China’s  January Industrial Production numbers, February CPI, PPI and Retail Sales figures; Japan’s Annualized GDP figure for 4Q

  3. Friday 12/03/10: January Industrial Production numbers (Hong Kong & Japan)

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. 

Bearish Stocks (Singapore)

Symbol

Name

Entry

SL

TSL

TP

Remarks

1

PWAY

Parkway Holdings

2.96

2.99

3.05

2.93

Overnight, Current Price at 2.99 (Small Risk)

Stock Prices last updated at 11.04 (Singapore Time)