Reuters: Hot Stocks: STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Shares down for third straight day

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STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Shares down for third straight day Jun 25th 2012, 05:12 Mon Jun 25, 2012 1:12am EDT Singapore's main index fell for the third straight session, along with other Asian shares, on ongoing concerns that Europe's debt crisis will weigh on global economic growth. By 0450 GMT, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) was 0.5 percent lower at 2,814.60 points, while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6 percent. A total of 187 securities declined, while 150 gained and 153 were unchanged. One of the top losers on the STI was Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, which lost 1.4 percent at S$8.59. Macquarie cut the lender's rating to neutral, citing expected earnings volatility from insurance and potentially rising credit costs. However, defensive stocks such as Singapore Telecommunications Ltd outperformed the broader market. SingTel rose 1.3 percent to S$3.20, while smaller rival StarHub gained 0.9 percent to S$3.34. 1258 (0458 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com) ************************************************************ 12:19 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Macquarie downgrades DBS, OCBC Macquarie said Singapore banks' earnings momentum is slowing down in the second quarter of 2012 as demand for regional trade finance is weakening and spreads on this business are falling, while trading income numbers are likely to be less rosy. Macquarie downgraded DBS Group Holdings to neutral to reflect the risk of its planned acquisition of Indonesia's Bank Danamon. Macquarie said the acquisition is overpriced and dilutive by around S$1 per share. "This is already reflected in DBS's valuation, but we think the shares will remain capped until the myriad uncertainties surrounding the deal have lifted - which may take some time," Macquarie said. It also cut its rating on Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp to neutral, citing the bank's relative valuation, expected earnings volatility from insurance and potentially rising credit costs. Macquarie's top pick is United Overseas Bank due to its strong solvency, asset quality and liquidity - which will support its 4 percent cash dividend yield - as well as its strategy of focusing on ASEAN in expanding organically. Shares of DBS and UOB were up around 0.3 percent each, while OCBC shares fell 1 percent on Monday. So far this year, the FT ST Financial index has gained 16 percent versus the 7 percent gain in the Straits Times Index 1200 (0400 GMT) (Reporting by Eveline Danubrata; eveline.danubrata@thomsonreuters.com) *********************************************************** 09:22 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Aussino falls as reverse takeover in doubt Shares of Aussino Group Ltd plunged as much as 12 percent on concerns that a planned reverse takeover of the bed linen maker may not materialise. By 0111 GMT, shares of Aussino were 6.6 percent lower at S$0.156 with over 8.4 million shares traded, compared to a full-day average of 24.5 million shares over the last five sessions. Aussino shares had surged about 97 percent after it announced its plans to enter the petrol kiosk business in Myanmar through a reverse takeover last week. The firm planning to inject assets into Aussino, Max Strategic Investments, is linked to a Myanmar businessman on a U.S. blacklist, bankers and lawyers said on Friday. While Singapore does not impose sanctions on Myanmar, the experts Reuters spoke to said authorities would be cautious about letting a firm list if there are question marks about the owners and managers. 0917 (0117 GMT) (Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; Editing by Kim Coghill; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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