Reuters: Hot Stocks: STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Singapore shares fall, trade at day's lows

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STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Singapore shares fall, trade at day's lows Mar 19th 2012, 08:54 Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:54am EDT Singapore shares surrender early gains, with the benchmark index trading at its lowest in about a week, after Hong Kong shares saw a late sell-off and European markets opened lower. The Straits Times Index fell 0.8 percent to 2,987.5, off the day's high of 3,029.9. On Friday, the index hit its highest level in seven months. Global Logistic Properties Ltd, which owns warehouses in China and Japan, and Singapore Exchange Ltd were among the top losers on the benchmark index, with declines of 2.7 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. The main index for Hong Kong shares was in positive territory for most of the session, but closed 1 percent lower, dragged by Chinese banks on fears loan growth could fall short of quarterly targets ahead of corporate earnings for the sector that start this week. 1645 (0845 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore) Reuters messaging rm://charmian.kok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ 14:47 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Singapore's Raffles Education falls on Vietnam woes Shares in Raffles Education Corp Ltd fell as much as 3.1 percent after the Singapore company lost an appeal to resume its operations in Vietnam. The shares were down 2.0 percent at S$0.48, with more than 9.5 million shares traded, about 3.9 times the full-day average trading volume traded over the past five days. The education services provider said it would reorganise its Vietnam operations and apply for new licences, a move it said was likely to have a material impact on its earnings per share for the year ending June 30. The company had suspended its operations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh since January following a temporary directive from Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training. Since then, its discussions with Vietnamese authorities to resume operations were unsuccessful. It said it was looking to transfer more than 400 Vietnam students to its colleges in Singapore, Sydney and Phnom Penh. For a company statement, click: link.reuters.com/ryp27s 1440 (0640 GMT) (Reporting by Mark Tay in Singapore) Reuters messaging rm://mark.tay.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ 13:16 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Singapore company results beat consensus-Nomura Corporate results in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan have been "good enough" to make a difference between a market correction and mere consolidation, Nomura analysts said, highlighting upgrades in 2012 consensus profit estimates. "The single-biggest beat by country has been in Singapore, for which aggregate net income exceeded consensus by no less than 50 percent, mostly due to big beats from local property developers (although actual year-on-year net income growth market-wide was unspectacular at -1 percent)," Nomura said. With more than three-fifths of firms by market value having reported results, aggregate earnings have risen 7 percent year-on-year and missed consensus by 9 percent in aggregate. Earnings in Thailand came in significantly worse than expected and missed consensus by 32 percent, citing lost economic activity following last year's floods, Nomura said. Net profits for companies in the Philippines, where results of only about 52 percent of firms by market value have come in, rose 54 percent but top-line sales grew 10 percent, the only regional maket where earnings growth was higher than a year ago. "Yet the degree to which investor expectations in the Philippines have already been inflated is illustrated by the fact that these stellar results nonetheless missed consensus by 36 percent - the region's biggest miss," Nomura said 1310 (0510 GMT) (Reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore) Reuters messaging rm://anshuman.daga.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ 12:44 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-DBS prefers diversified Singapore property plays With private home sales for the first two months in Singapore already breaching 4,200 units, or one-third of DBS Vickers' full year estimate, the broker said the risk of a policy overhang had increased. DBS highlighted shopping centre developer CapitaMalls Asia , CapitaLand Ltd, and Global Logistic Properties Ltd as its top picks, citing their inexpensive valuations and leadership in their respective markets. Additionally, home sales in March are likely to be good as well, with at least four mass to mid-market projects up for launch, DBS said. "Given the higher risk in the residential sector now, we would avoid stocks with greater residential exposure and prefer those with non-residential or diversified focus," it said. DBS has a hold rating on SC Global Developments Ltd and Ho Bee Investment Ltd. For a related story, click For details on February private unit sales, click: link.reuters.com/naj27s 1240 (0440 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore) Reuters messaging rm://charmian.kok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ 11:51 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-CIMB upbeat on offshore and marine sector CIMB Research is seeing shoots of recovery in the offshore support vessel (OSV) sector as more new rigs intensify demand. "With fleet growth coming to an end, we see OSV supply tightening in 2012," the brokerage said and kept its overweight rating on the offshore and marine sector. STX OSV Holdings Ltd STXO.SO and Ezra Holdings Ltd EZRA.SI are CIMB's top picks, given their global exposure and links to the North Sea. It raised its target price on STX OSV to S$2.02 from S$1.78. CIMB sad it was generally more positive on Singapore vessel owners than shipyards as improving utilisation in the early phase of this upcycle should have an immediate impact on their profitability. CIMB has an outperform rating on Ezra, Ezion Holdings Ltd EZHL.SI, Mermaid Martime PCL MMPC.SI and Swiber Holdings Ltd SWBR.SI, STX OSV and ASL Marine Holdings ASLM.SI. It has an underperform rating on Otto Marine Ltd OTTO.SI. 1140 (0340 GMT) (Reporting by Mark Tay in Singapore) Reuters messaging mark.tay.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ 09:56 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-CDL Hospitality to gain from strong tourism-OCBC Singapore's CDL Hospitality Trusts CDLT.SI, which owns hotels, is well positioned to benefit from growing tourism in Singapore as well as stronger revenue for high-end hotels, OCBC Investment Research said. It maintained its buy rating and a target price of S$2.00 for CDL Hospitality. Shares in the units were up 1.4 percent at S$1.785, and have gained 15.5 percent this year. "Many of the visitors from developing countries are not budget travelers," said OCBC, highlighting that the revenue per available room (RevPAR) for high-end hotels in Singapore outperformed budget hotels in January. Overall, RevPAR for Singapore hotels rose 11.7 percent in January from a year ago, while visitor arrivals grew 13.4 percent, data from the Singapore Tourism Board shows. "With the majority of its revenue coming from high-end Singapore hotels, CDL Hospitality Trusts will continue to be a beneficiary of the blossoming tourism industry," OCBC said. 0940 (0140 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore) Reuters messaging charmian.kok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ Singapore MSCI March futures SSGc1 rose 0.2 percent on Monday, signaling a positive start for the Straits Times Index .FTSTI. Asian shares edged higher and the dollar was firm against the yen on Monday with investors buoyed by the U.S. market hitting an almost four-year high last week and by higher European stocks reflecting signs of growing stability in the euro zone. 0838 (0038 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore) Reuters messaging charmian.kok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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