Morning Highlights

Singapore Market went soft today and opened low at 2685.41. We are observing the overall market performance now before we can identify the focus for today.

Our Focus For Today is On Commodity Sector 

Ezra (+5.0% dod, $2.09) popped on announcement yesterday that its construction arm EOC has won an initial $527 million six-year contract from Premier Oil to operate a production, storage and offloading vessel at the Chim Sao oil project in Vietnam. Premier Oil has an option to extend the contract for another six years for an additional $477 million (Bloomberg).

Surging 5% yesterday to its highest close in fifteen months, Ezra has not only outperformed the STI with its 207% gain this year, but also its offshore and marine counterparts this week. Here’s a look at how the company compares with the other offshore and marine plays’ share prices: (read more)

  • Ezra: +3.5% this week, +207.4% year to date
  • Ezion: +1.2% this week, +336.8% year to date
  • Cosco Corp: -3.3% this week, +29.2% year to date
  • KepCorp: -0.5% this week, +93.1% year to date
  • SembMarine: +0.3% this week, +110.7% year to date

Corporate Announcements (Warrants)

  1. In a separate announcement this morning, Ezra proposed an issue of convertible bonds with a yield of 4%/annum due in 2014, to raise US$100m. The initial conversion price will be S$2.50 per share but will be subject to changes in the later condition.
  2. Cosco Corp’s Dalian Shipyard has agreed to reschedule the delivery of 5 bulk carriers to a European ship owner. The delivery will now take place 15 & 23mths after their original delivery dates & the last delivery will take place by Dec 2012 instead of Sept 2011.
  3. Keppel Land announced 3Q09 net profits of $78.5mn, up 70% year-on-year.

News Updates:

  • Japan's exports edged lower for the third consecutive month in September as a rising yen weighs on overseas shipments and as a rebound driven by global stimulus spending and the stocking of inventories starts to wane. As a result, Japan's Nikkei average fell 0.8% today, dented by exporter shares such as Advantest Corp after US stocks slipped on a late sell-off in financial shares.

  • Most Japanese companies don't expect production and sales to rebound to 2007 levels until 2011 at the soonest, according to results reported Thursday from a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry survey. (MarketWatch)

  • WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it was readying US$167.4 million in aid to Iceland, a second loan installment for the recession-stricken country 

  • China September CPI up 0.4% vs up 0.5% in August; China Q3 industrial production +12.4%, vs Q2 +9.1%; China Q3 GDP rises 8.9% on year

  • Crude finishes at one-year high above $81 a barrel

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)

Symbol

Name

Entry

SL

TSL

TP

Remarks
1 CATL Capitaland 4.18 4.00 4.36 Broke out today, looking for setups  to enter
2 SPRM Singapore Press Holdings 4.00 3.88 4.12 lookout near breakout pt
3 SCMN Sembcorp Marine 3.62 3.38 3.86 Triggered – Current Price at 3.64
4 UEL United Engineer 1.82 1.69 1.95 Resistance at 1.88
5 SIAT Singapore Airport Terminal Services 2.59 2.44 2.74
6 LIAS Lion Asiapac 0.38 0.345 0.415
7 NOBG Noble Group 2.71 2.59 2.83  
8 IFAR Indofood Agri Resources 1.82 1.71 1.93 Triggered – Current Price at 1.78
Watch out when price reach 1.91
9 RAMB Ramba Energy 0.755 0.685 0.825 trading halt -pending announcement
10 NOHL Novena Holdings 0.22 0.18 0.26  
11 STEG ST Engineering 2.89 2.73 2.82 3.03 PROFIT – CLOSED at 2.91
12 EZRA Ezra Holdings 2.11 2.05 2.21 LOSS – CLOSED at SL
Stock Prices last updated at 17:30 (Singapore Time)

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

  1. Fraser & Neave – Buy at 4.02, Stop Loss at 3.76
  2. Allgreen Properties – Buy at 1.21, Stop Loss at 1.04
  3. City Development – Buy at 10.50, Stop Loss at 9.55
  4. Wing Tai Holdings – Buy at 1.75, Stop Loss at 1.55
  5. Ezra – Buy at 2.08, Stop Loss at 1.66
  6. Lookout for Keppel Corp

Afternoon Highlights

The market is range-bounded today. Some shares experience last 30minutes sell down, such as SIA and UOB each drop by 0.34 and 0.28 respectively. Index closed down 10.58points at 2681.97 with 1.7577 billion traded.

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UOB was the sole outperformer among the local banks as it rose 0.8% dod to $17.50. The bank has offered to buy back S$150 million ($108 million) of structured investment products linked to the debt of companies including General Motors and Six Flags. The offer may cost the company about S$10 million (The Straits Times).

DBS (-1.7% dod, $13.12) was a leading index decliner and there was little change for OCBC (-0.1% dod, $7.60) last 15min sell down.

U.S. stocks tumbled in the final hour of trading after analyst Dick Bove downgraded Wells Fargo & Co., erasing an earlier rally spurred by better-than-estimated results at Morgan Stanley and Yahoo! Inc.

Other News

  • Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. home lender this year, slid 5.1% after Bove of Rochdale Securities cut the shares to “sell” and said earnings were boosted by mortgage-servicing fees rather than improving business trends.
  • Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, tumbled 2.1% saying it expects a “tough” holiday shopping season. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index reversed a 0.9% advance as nine of 10 industry groups retreated, led by financials. (Bloomberg)
  • Credit Suisse swings to 2.4 billion franc profit

Quote of the Day

“The future depends on what we do in the present.” - Mahatma Gandhi