Reuters: Hot Stocks: STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Dividends to drive EPS growth-Coutts

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STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Dividends to drive EPS growth-Coutts Mar 26th 2012, 09:12 Mon Mar 26, 2012 5:12am EDT Earnings growth and dividend yields, rather than rising price to earnings valuation, are likely to be the main drivers of earnings per share growth for Singapore stocks, said Coutts, the private banking division of the Royal Bank of Scotland. "With Singapore remaining vulnerable to shocks to global growth, and the absence of a strong recovery in local or global demand, we believe the best prospects in the equity space are in high-quality, dividend-focused segments, which should provide investors with some comfort during times of volatility," it said. With gains of more than 13 percent so far this year, the MSCI Singapore index was trading at a price to earnings ratio of 12.7 times trailing 12 months earnings, Coutts said. While this was still below the long-term average of 16-17, this was also the level around previous market peaks in 2007-2008 and 2010, it said. The current dividend yield of around 3.4 percent for the MSCI Singapore has only been exceeded during the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, Coutts said. 1655 (0855 GMT) (Reporting by Eveline Danubrata in Singapore; eveline.danubrata@thomsonreuters.com) ******************************************************* 13:31 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Index falls to two-week low Singapore shares edged lower by midday, in line with other Asian bourses, with the benchmark local index trading near an intra-day low. The Straits Times Index fell 0.34 percent to 2,979.8 after declining to 2,978.3, the lowest since March 13. A total of 244 stocks declined versus 146 gainers, while 173 were unchanged. "The markets have risen over the last few months so people are looking for opportunities to take some profits off the table. There seems to be a search for new positive catalysts and there's a lack of new ideas," said Liu Jin Shu, an analyst at SIAS Research. On the data front, Singapore's industrial production rose a smaller-than-expected 12.1 percent in February from a year ago, hurt by a surprise contraction of 6.0 percent in electronics. Asian shares struggled on Monday, with materials and technology stocks losing ground. 1325 (0525 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com) ************************************************************ 12:02 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-UE E&C rises to record on strong volume Shares of UE E&C Ltd jumped as much as 5 percent to a record high, on expectations the construction and engineering firm will pay attractive dividends and its expansion into property development will help boost margins. UE E&C was up 3.5 percent at S$0.74 with more than 4.6 million shares traded versus average daily volume of 4.1 million over the past 30 days. The stock rose 22 percent last week. On Friday, OCBC Investment Research upgraded UE E&C to buy from hold and raised its target price to S$0.81 from S$0.65. "UE E&C's expansion into residential property development would provide revenue and cost synergies with its construction and engineering services," OCBC said. The broker also highlighted the company's net cash position of S$113 million as of the end of December and said it was well-positioned to seek acquisitions. Traders said investors had also started showing more interest in UE E&C due to its attractive dividend. UE E&C said last month it would pay a final dividend of 6 Singapore cents a share, implying a dividend yield of 8 percent at the current price. For a related story, click: 1150 (0350 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com) ************************************************************ 10:23 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-See Hup Seng up on offshore drilling acquisition Shares of Singapore's oil and gas services firm See Hup Seng Ltd rose as much as 11.4 percent after it acquired a minority stake in an offshore drilling company. See Hup Seng's shares were 6.8 percent higher at S$0.235 with more than 13.6 million shares traded, 4.3 times the average daily volume traded over the last five sessions. "The company's expansion into offshore and drilling has attracted investors. Oil prices have been on a strong trend up so the oil sector is still considered lucrative," said a trader. See Hup Seng, which mainly provides corrosion prevention services to customers in the oil and gas industry, said on Friday it will spend $10 million to acquire a minority stake in Energy Drilling Pte Ltd. Related story: link.reuters.com/mym37s 1012 (0212 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com) ************************************************************ 10:06 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Hiap Hoe jumps on takeover talk Shares of Singapore's property firm Hiap Hoe Ltd jumped as much as 12.7 percent on strong volume on market talk the firm could be a takeover target due to its attractive valuations and potential earnings growth, traders said. Hiap Hoe shares were up 7.8 percent at S$0.55, after hitting an intraday high of S$0.575, the highest level since November 2007. More than 4.6 million shares were traded, four times the average full-day volume traded over the past five sessions. "Hiap Hoe has chalked up S$400 million of progress billings that would be recognised over the next 2-3 years," DMG & Partners said in a report. It also noted that Hiap Hoe's diversification into commercial development will provide the group with a source of recurring income, and valued the stock at S$0.61 a share with a buy rating. On Monday, Singapore's Business Times newspaper mentioned Hiap Hoe as a takeover target. The shares jumped nearly 11 percent last week. 0950 (0150 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore) Reuters messaging rm://charmian.kok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Barclays optimistic on Singapore banks Singapore banks are well placed to win regional market share and re-price assets as peers battle increasingly tight conditions, with the city-state seen as the best-funded banking system in the region, Barclays said. "Given our cautious view of banks around the region, we would rank the Singapore lenders amongst our preferred exposures in a regional portfolio," Barclays said in a report. It set an overweight rating on Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and ranked it as its top pick among local banks, with United Overseas Bank Ltd coming in second with an overweight recommendation. DBS was rated as equal weight. "Singapore banks are trading around 15 percent below long term average multiples. While currently valued at a 30 percent premium to the regional sector price to earnings, we believe their strong funding position and earnings visibility justify this premium," Barclays said. Singapore banks have reported strong loans growth since early 2011 as some European banks cut their exposure to Asia. For a related story, click: 0930 (0130 GMT) (Reporting by Anshuman Daga) Reuters messaging rm://anshuman.daga.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ 09:16 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-CIMB upgrades CSE Global to outperform CIMB Research raised its rating on Singapore's CSE Global , a systems integrator for the global oil industry, to outperform from neutral and kept its target price, citing its current share price as an attractive level to buy the stock. "We deem that the current trading price provides a good entry point to this quality company," CIMB said in a report. It said CSE Global is trading at 7 times its 12-month forward price-to-earnings, compared to a 5-year mean of 11 times. The broker expects CSE to post first-quarter net profit of S$14 million, up 11 percent from a year ago. Stronger-than-expected results and order wins could lead to a re-rating of CSE Global, it said. By 0109 GMT, CSE Global shares were up 1.9 percent at S$0.80, and have gained 6.7 percent since the start of the year. 0911 (0111 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore) Reuters messaging rm://charmian.kok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ************************************************************ 09:03 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Singapore's index futures higher Singapore's index futures rose 0.23 percent, indicating a stronger start for the benchmark Straits Times Index. The Nikkei share average was up 0.36 percent on Monday, while the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan gained 0.27 percent, finding some support after losing ground last week on fears of the impact of an economic slowdown in China. 0845 (0045 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore) Reuters messaging rm://charmian.kok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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