Spore market

Spore market: although the US market closed flat Friday, positive noises from Europe may point to a firmer opening for Spore stocks.
Over the wkend, Italian PM Mario Monti announced EUR 30b of austerity and growth measures, a day earlier than planned, as he rushed to reassure investors he is serious about taming a debt of ~EUR 1.9tr. He will present the package which includes more than EUR12b in spending cuts, to both houses of parliament today.
Separately, a proposal to channel ECB loans through the IMF is said to deliver as much as EUR 200b to fight the crisis.
Meanwhile, a Bloomberg survey of economists indicates the ECB will cut benchmark borrowing costs to 1% from 1.25% when it meets Dec 8.
The euro gained against the dollar (+0.2% to $1.3418), extending its first weekly advance in more than a month.
In the region, KOSPI +0.2%, Nikkei +0.5% at 8.18am.

Technically, short term momentum for the STI looks positive with RSI crossing above neutral, Stochastics trending up, and MACD displaying a positive crossover. See near term resistance at 2800, support at 2735 (50day MA).


On corporate news flow,
NOL: German media reports NOL could be making a fresh bid for Hapag Llyod, but co refuses to comment.
Sim Lian: awarded tender for Bukit Pangjang site for commercial and residential devt worth $493m.
UMS: proposes to acquire two companies for $28m from CEO.
Hi-P: clarifies Shanghai plant strike confined to >200 workers, vs earlier reports of >1000 workers.
Dukang Distillers: ventures into S Korea with Lotte Chilsung as partner