Singapore Stock Market Updates on 02/10/09

Morning Highlights

There is NO SECTOR IN FOCUS for today

DJIA shed 55.85 points (0.58%) in opening trades to 9656.43, and ended trading off more than 200 points (with 266 billion traded) in biggest one-day slide since July 2‏ amid more signs of a slow and bumpy economy’s recovery. There is a resistance at 9917.99.

In response to the heavy losses on Wall Street, STI gapped down and opened at 2620.45. Index has fallen sharply and the overall moving averages are also pointing downwards on the Daily Charts. We advise to stay on the sideline till further notice. We have also cancelled most of the Quick Picks and only see potential in CapitaCommerical and MSCI India for the moment.

Judging at current situation, it will be hard for the market to clear 2700 by year end. If market fails to cross over today’s high of 2620.45, high chance that it is going to test 1st support at 2560.15 and a resistance zone from 2620.45 – 2634.91 shall be formed. In consequent, all the previous support will also turn to resistance.

On the other hand, if market did manage to clear 2620.45, we might see market drifting aimlessly in the coming days. However,, based on the charting till now, the chances of market retreat to 2560.15 is higher.

Britain’s London Stock Exchange announced on Thursday that it is in exclusive talks to buy pan-European electronic trading platform Turquoise.

US NEWS Reports

• U.S. consumer spending soars to eight-year high; 'cash for clunkers' credited‏
• U.S. index of pending home sales rises for seventh straight month‏
• U.S. benchmark 30-year mortgage rate falls below 5%‏
• GM monthly U.S. sales down 45%; Ford's decline is 5%, Chrysler's 42%‏
• U.S. stocks marked their worst decline in about three months as a disappointing report on manufacturing early Thursday led to a broad sell-off for many of the companies that helped pace a surging third quarter in stocks, including JPMorgan, Caterpillar and American Express.
• Setting off Thursday's session, a report on manufacturing activity restocked fears that a rally of more than six months in the stock market may have overextended the current economic landscape. Notably, some of the most economically sensitive sectors, those that had paced the market to its best quarterly performance since 1998 in the third quarter, were its weakest.

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.  <The Quick Picks referred herein contain overnight positions from Yesterday>

Bullish Stocks (Singapore)

Stock Prices last updated at 17.40 (Singapore Time)

Afternoon Highlights

2614.98 had been tested once at 11:00. Currently, market is re-resting this point.  MRE raises rating and target price on SingTel with a revised target price of S$3.53 (versus S$3.16 previously)… read more

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- CIT Group Inc. said late Thursday it will seek to restructure its debt and added that it may file for bankruptcy protection if its exchange offer is unsuccessful.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The longest stretch of job losses since the 1930s probably continued September, economists say. U.S. nonfarm payrolls probably fell by 167,000 in the month to about 131 million, marking the 21st consecutive month of falling employment. The Labor Department will report on the September employment situation at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday.

In Summary

Market is down by 52.91 points. On Weekly & Daily Charts, 2521.36 is a very critical support line. We need to observe how market is going to perform next week. If 2599.69 (Today’s Low) is broken next week, high chance that we will see market retrace to 1st support level at 2560.15. The 2nd support level is at 2521.36.

Possible Resistance at 2620.45 (Today’s High) on 15 Minutes Chart.

For now, market sentiment has turned bearish. Some potential stocks to short are SGX, UOB and OCBC.

Quote of the Day

“I've learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success.” – Jack Welch