Ringgit opens lower against US Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit reversed yesterday's gains to open lower in the early session against the US dollar today as the Federal Reserve (Fed)hinted of an imminent interest rate hike, a dealer said.

At 9.00 am, the ringgit was quoted at 4.2550/2620 against the greenback from 4.2300/2350 on Wednesday.

The hawkish comments of a nearing interest rate hike by Fed Chair, Janet Yellen, set the ringgit and other regional currencies on a decline. 

According to Yellen, keeping interest rates at zero for too long would create a risk to the financial stability of the US economy.

The ringgit, meanwhile, traded against other major currencies.

Read More

Malaysia: Shares end lower

MALAYSIAN shares ended lower on Wednesday with the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index slipping 19.02 points to close at 1,590.19.

Some 1.89 billion lots, valued at RM2.13 billion were traded. Gainers numbered 379 while losers numbered 347.

Read More

Stocks to watch: GSS Energy, Accordia Golf Trust, Noble Group

THE following Singapore companies issued announcements on Tuesday that may affect their trading activity.

GSS Energy has invested S$5 million into Ramba Energy to participate in the latter's exploration programme at the West Jambi block in Sumatra, Indonesia.

This represents an expansion of GSS's existing operations in Central & East Java into Sumatra, which will enhance the group's overall growth potential, said GSS.

Accordia Golf Trust (AGT) - which debuted on the Mainboard last August - has posted a maiden distribution per unit (DPU) of 5.16 yen (5.71 Singapore cents) for the period from August 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015 (FY2014/2015).

Net profit attributable to unitholders for the period came up to 2.6 billion yen. Total operating income stood at 33.4 billion, 2.2 per cent below AGT's forecast, due to "unfavourable weather conditions and discounts given during winter season to attract more visitors", said AGT.

Commodity trader Noble Group said it has successfully closed a US$2.3 billion committed unsecured revolving loan facility from 35 global banks.

The sum will be used for the refinancing of "certain of its existing debt" and general corporate purposes, Noble said in a statement.

Read More

Hot stock: YuuZoo shares up 8.092 per cent in morning trade

SHARES of mainboard-listed Internet stock YuuZoo surged 8.092 per cent or S$0.014 to S$0.187 as at 10.30am, making it one of the most actively traded stocks on Monday morning.

It opened 0.1 Singapore cent higher at 1.8 Singapore cents before hitting a high of 1.89 Singapore cents at about 9.20am. Some 29.1 million shares changed hands.

On Friday, the social networking and e-commerce firm posted a net profit of US$3.2 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, reversing a loss of US$1.1 million from a year ago, on the back of a 58 per cent rise in revenue to US$9.6 million, due mainly to high margins on the sale of franchise licences in Turkey and South Korea

Read More

Singapore: STI up 3.67 points at opening, following gains on Wall Street

THE Straits Times Index (STI) rose by 3.67 points or 0.11 per cent to 3,466.77 as at 9am on Monday, following last week's rebound on Wall Street stocks lifted by encouraging data on the US jobs market and inflation.

Among the most active stocks out of the gate were OLS, up 16.67 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent at 0.7 Singapore cent; EMS Energy, up 8.7 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent at 2.5 Singapore cents; and YuuZoo, up 3.47 per cent or 0.6 Singapore cents at 17.9 Singapore cents.

A total of 53.3 million shares worth S$34.2 million had changed hands as at 9.02am. Gainers outnumbered losers 93 to 60.

Read More

Stocks to watch: Vard Holdings, Ezion, Q&M, SingPost, Rotary Engineering

SHIPBUILDER Vard Holdings on Wednesday announced that its net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, plunged 89.7 per cent to eight million Norwegian kroner (S$1.43 million), compared to 78 million kroner in the year-ago period, mainly as a result of net foreign-exchange losses and higher interest expenses. Revenues for the quarter was up 14.6 per cent at 3.06 billion kroner, versus 2.67 billion kroner in the corresponding period last year, due to higher activity at the yards with subcontractors. Looking ahead, the group expects new order prospects to continue to be weak in the near and medium term.

Ezion Holdings on Wednesday announced its net profit for the first quarter ended March slipped 9.4 per cent to US$41,010, from US$45,245. Revenue fell 4.6 per cent to US$90.12 million due mainly to the absence of contribution from the marine and offshore logistic support services division as the projects in Queensland, Australia did not go into additional trains as originally planned.

Q&M Dental Group on Tuesday announced plans to acquire eight dental clinics in Singapore for a total of S$20.30 million to be paid in cash and shares. Towards this end, the firm has signed three separate points of agreements which also include the vendors providing guarantees and profit targets amounting to some S$16.10 million, said the firm in an announcement.

Singapore Post (SingPost) on Tuesday posted a 51.6 per cent fall in net profit from S$79.6 million a year ago to S$38.5 million for its fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015. The decrease was due to SingPost changing in the quarter its accounting policy for investment properties from the cost model to the fair value model to improve transparency. Revenue rose 28.7 per cent from S$193.3 million to S$248.1 million, boosted by SingPost's e-commerce and logistics businesses as well as contributions from new acquisitions.

Read More

Hot stocks: Pacific Andes, China Fishery among actively traded stocks

PACIFIC Andes Resources Development and its subsidiary, China Fishery Group, are among the most actively traded stocks on Singapore Exchange on Tuesday.

The two stocks saw more than 75 million shares traded altogether.

At 03:47pm, Pacific Andes, a distributor of seafood, was trading around S$0.068 a share, up 0.3 cent or 4.6 per cent. More than 47 million shares changed hands, making it the most actively traded stock on the exchange.

China Fishery, an industrial fishing group, was trading around S$0.205 a share, up 0.7 cent, or 3.5 per cent, on more than 28 million shares. It is the third most actively traded stock.

On Monday, China Fishery said its net profit for the second quarter ended March 31, 2015, fell 75.5 per cent to US$4.3 million year on year, due to the impact of the Peruvian government's closure of the north-centre fishery. Revenue fell 57 per cent to US$76.7 million from US$180 million in the year-ago period.

Its parent, Pacific Andes, reported a 74 per cent drop in net profit to HK$46 million (S$7.9 million) in the second quarter from HK$174 million a year ago. Revenue fell 41 per cent to HK$1.32 billion from HK$2.23 billion.

China Fishery said its net-debt-to-equity ratio has improved from 102 per cent in March 2014 to 73 per cent as at March 28, 2015, well ahead of target. The completion of its rights issue and redemption of the Copeinca notes will bring about a further reduction in gearing levels.

Read More

Singapore: Stocks weaken in low volume

THE Straits Times Index (STI) was pushed up by about 11 points in the final seconds of trading last Thursday, April 30, so it came as no surprise that on Monday, the first trading day of May, the index spent most of the day in the red and eventually ended a nett 4.69 points weaker at 3,482.7.

It also came as no surprise to see penny stock interest continue to dwindle - turnover done was a weak 1.5 billion units worth S$1.02 billion for an average of S$0.68 per unit traded, more than twice the value a month ago. The dollar value done in the STI's 30 components was S$279 million, about 27 per cent of overall business.

As for the broad market's performance, weakness in the index usually means softness all round - and this was borne out by an advance-decline score of 178-287 excluding warrants.

Brokers were not surprised at what was in truth a lethargic session with few redeeming features. The banks for example, enjoyed divergent fortunes - DBS and OCBC fell while UOB rose.

Read More

Singapore share prices opened lower on tuesday

• Singapore share prices opened lower with the Straits Times Index (STI) down 5.16 points or 0.15 per cent to 3,510.69, following Monday's decline on Wall Street.

• TheStraits Timex Index kicked off the week with a 2.85-point gain at 3,515.85 on Monday,mainly due to strong gains in Singtel and UOB.

• HEALTHCARE group Q&M Dental is planning to acquire TP Dental Surgeons for S$28.6 million.

• CORDLIFE Group has announced that China Cord Blood Corp (CCBC) has received a proposal letter from Golden Meditech which is seeking to take it private.

• Yangzijiang Shipbuilding on Monday plans to delist its Taiwan Depository Receipts (TDRs) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) .

• QAF, known for its Gardenia and Bonjour brands of bread, plans to restructure Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd (GBKL), a 70 percent-owned Malaysian subsidiary that contributes a significant amount of revenue and profit.  

Read More

Stocks to watch: Japfa, Noble Group, Tat Hong

HERE are the stocks to watch for Monday morning trade:-

Indonesian poultry producer Japfa has issued a profit warning, advising of a net loss for its first quarter ended March 31, 2015. The loss results from a continued weakness in the poultry market and in the purchasing power of low-income consumers as well as the translation loss from the company's US dollar loans as a result of a 5 per cent drop in the rupiah to US dollar exchange rate as at March 31, 2015, Japfa said.

Commodity trader Noble Group on Friday held its annual general meeting, where shareholders passed 12 resolutions related to the company's financial statements and the report of its directors and auditors. Noble's shares have plunged about 27 per cent since anonymous outfit Iceberg Research first attacked the group's accounting practices on Feb 15. Short-seller firm Muddy Waters is also "short" Noble.

Crane operator Tat Hong Holdings on Friday evening said it expects to report a loss for its fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015. The challenging business conditions in the Australian construction sector have resulted in a weak performance of the group's wholly-owned Australian subsidiary group, which is expected to recognise significant changes in the impairment of goodwill and assets in its Q4 FY15 financial results. Notwithstanding this, the group expects to remain profitable for FY15, as its underlying performance in Q4 FY15 remained stable, Tat Hong said.

Read More

Singtel to buy cyber security company Trustwave for US$810m

[SINGAPORE] Singapore Telecommunications Ltd will buy a 98 per cent stake in Trustwave Holdings Inc for US$810 million as Southeast Asia's biggest phone company seeks to expand in cyber security.

The deal gives the company control of businesses in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, Singtel said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday. Trustwave is expected to add to earnings from the third year, according to the filing.

Singtel is seeking new expansion as growth in its home market of Singapore slows. The company also gets dividends from stakes in emerging-market carriers including India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Indonesia's PT Telekomunikasi Selular. Chicago- based Trustwave had net tangible liabilities of about US$84 million and over three million business subscribers, it said.

Trustwave will allow Singtel to "capture global opportunities in the cyber security space," Singtel Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said in the statement.

Read More

Stocks to watch: Singtel, Ezra

THE following stocks could see increased trading on Wednesday following material announcements before the beginning of trading.

Telco Singtel announced its US$810 million purchase of cyber security firm Trustwave Holdings.

Offshore play Ezra Holdings announced a 99 per cent fall in net profit to US$138,000 from US$19.6 million for its second quarter ended Feb 28, 2015. Revenue was stable but costs had gone up. Some US$4.6 million of net profit was due to non-controlling interests.

Read More

SGX daily share trading down by modest 0.2% in March

Daily share trading activity on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) eased in March from year-ago levels, while derivatives trading continued to grow.

The securities daily average value (SDAV) slipped by 0.2 per cent year-on-year to S$1.1 billion in March, according to data by SGX. The average traded volume of securities experienced a sharper fall, by 38.4 per cent, to 1.4 billion shares.

Turnover velocity, a measurement that is closely tracked by SGX and that reflects how often a share is traded on average, fell to 37 per cent from 40 per cent a year earlier.

The derivatives market had more excitement. Average daily trading volume in derivatives grew 46.2 per cent year-on-year in March to 678,126 contracts. A total of 3.3 million open-interest positions were left overnight in March, a 5 per cent year-on-year improvement.

The FTSE China A50 Index futures were a key contributor to growth, with March's 7 million traded contracts more than double the year-ago 2.5 million volume.

Read More

Singapore bond bankers vie for deals as OCBC closes gap on DBS

[SINGAPORE] Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp is closing the gap on top-ranked Singapore dollar bond arranger DBS Group Holdings Ltd, trailing by the narrowest margin on record last quarter.

OCBC helped issue S$1.56 billion of offerings at home in the three months to March 31, boosting its market share to 32.4 per cent, more than triple a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

DBS worked on S$1.62 billion of deals for a 33.6 percent market share. OCBC was the sole manager on two issues for Singapore Telecommunications Ltd this year while DBS was on all three of its previous local-currency deals.

Singapore's two largest lenders are vying for a smaller pool of profits, which has pushed them to expand overseas and into investment banking. New rules that require banks to reduce risky holdings, coupled with deposit rates less than 0.5 per cent in the island nation, have prompted companies to sell more bonds in the local currency in the past five years than in the previous decade.

Read More

Stocks to watch: CCFH, Sino Construction, IPC, KepCorp, A-Reit

THE following stocks had announcements or developments that could affect trading activity on Tuesday.

CCFH: The company intends to diversify into fund management, helicopter leasing, and solar plants in the Caribbean islands. The Catalist-listed group owns bedlinen brand Friven.

Sino Construction: Its share price rose 20.7 per cent to 3.5 Singapore cents on Monday, after the company said it would raise S$6.5 million through the placement of 262 million new shares.

IPC Corporation: The company is in negotiations to sell its remaining seven hotels in Japan. The proposed sale price for the properties is in the region of S$150 million subject to agreement between the parties.

Keppel Corp: Its shareholding in Keppel Land had inched up 0.5 percentage point to 93.9 per cent by 5pm on Monday. This is still 1.6 percentage points short of the 95.5 per cent compulsory acquisition threshold for the higher offer price of S$4.60 per share to kick in. The final closing deadline of the offer is 5.30pm on March 31.

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit): It has completed the acquisition of The Kendall at 50 Science Park Road for a purchase consideration of S$112 million from Singapore Science Park Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascendas Group, the sponsor of A-Reit.

Read More

Hot Stock Noble surges as it readies to sue following third Iceberg report

SHARES of Noble Group rose 3.4 per cent on heavy trading on Monday, after the company said it will start legal proceedings following the third Iceberg report.

The counter gained three Singapore cents to S$0.905. It was the most actively traded stock in early morning trade, with nearly 16 million shares changing hands.

Noble said it will start legal proceedings against Hong Kong resident Arnaud Vagner, Enlighten Ace Ltd, a Seychelles company, and any associates, at the Hong Kong High Court "for conspiracy to injure Noble Group".

"Noble Group refers to the statements made by Iceberg Research in their three reports. We reject their allegations as inaccurate, unreliable and misleading," the company said in a statement on Monday.

Read More

Market Forecast for week ahead-

The trend of market is expected to be bullish for this week . Currently we have seen unusual volatility in markets due to Federal Reserve meeting. We may see bullish really in next week trading session because it has taken rebound from 3374 and we may expect that it will reach up to 3456.

Read More

Stocks to watch: Noble Group, Cambridge Industrial Trust, S-Reits

NOBLE Group on Monday said it will start legal proceedings against Hong Kong resident Arnaud Vagner, Enlighten Ace Ltd, a Seychelles company, and any associates, at the Hong Kong High Court "for conspiracy to injure Noble Group".

THE manager of Cambridge Industrial Trust (CIT) said on Monday that RBC Investor Services Trust Singapore Limited, in its capacity as trustee of CIT, has agreed to buy the remaining 40 per cent it does not own of Cambridge SPV1 LLP for S$11 million. The stake in Cambridge SPV1 LLP - which holds an industrial property at 3 Tuas South Avenue 4 - will be purchased from Oxley Projects Pte Ltd.

SINGAPORE Reits offer value against their Hong Kong and US peers, said Pearly Yap, a portfolio manager with Eastspring Investments, in an interview with The Business Times. But the depreciating Singapore dollar, and too many leveraged private clients in local Reits in the face of an interest rate hike, are causes for concern.

Read More

Singapore's STI up 4.21 points at opening, tracing gains in US, Europe

SINGAPORE Stock Picks[SGX]- Singapore share prices opened higher on Monday with the Straits Times Index (STI) up 4.21 points to 3,416.65 as at 9.08 am, following gains in US and European markets on Friday.

Top gainers in early morning trade included UOB, DBS and Singapore Exchange. Shares of Noble Group rose on heavy trading after the company said it will start legal proceedings following the third Iceberg report.

Some 86.7 million shares worth S$120.9 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 85 to 56.

Read More

Hot stock SIA shares soar in early-morning trade

Singapore Stock tips[SGX]- SHARES of Singapore Airlines (SIA) soared in early-morning trading on Wednesday to S$12.04, up 24 Singapore cents or 2.03 per cent, as at 10.23am, making it one of the top gainers on Singapore Exchange.

The movements come after SIA confirmed on Tuesday that it is in talks to potentially acquire a stake in South Korea's budget carrier Jeju Air, which would give it a foothold in the buoyant North Asian market.

It had said that the discussions may not result in a transaction and that the airline would make further announcements as necessary.

SIA, Jeju Air and the latter's parent Aekyung Group started talks late last year over a possible stake sale, Reuters had said, quoting a Jeju Air spokesman. A report out of South Korea suggests that the stake could be in the region of 20 per cent.

The proposed acquisition comes as the SIA group - which includes regional wing SilkAir as well as budget subsidiaries Scoot and Tigerair - faces formidable competition from full-service and low-cost carriers alike, which has been putting pressure on margins.

Read More