Sg Market (01 Apr 15)

Singapore shares are expected to open lower after Wall Sreet gave up almost all of Mon’s window dressing gains, with some market watchers blaming the sell-off on reduced expectations for 1Q earnings.

Regional bourses are trading lower this morning in Tokyo (-0.2%), Seoul (-0.2%) and Sydney (-0.2%).

From a chart perspective, resistance is tipped at 3,460 while downside support sits at 3,400.

Stocks to watch:
*Land Transport: LTA and Public Transport Council will implement in 2H15 standardisation in parts of taxi fare structure to prevent taxi fares from becoming even more complicated in future. Fare structure has 4 main components: flag-down fare, unit fares, surcharges, booking fees. Taxi companies will be required to standardise the last 3, while larger taxis will be required to standardise fee levied for additional passengers beyond the 4th passengers. To allow for competition, different taxi companies can still charge different unit fares.

*Keppel Land: Parent Keppel Corp has obtained 95.1% acceptances for its voluntary unconditional cash offer. Shareholders who accepted the offer will receive $4.38/share. Trading in the counter will be suspended. Under Section 213(3) of the Companies Act, remaining shareholders who have not tendered have a right to require Keppel Corp to acquire their shares at $4.38 in cash.

*Cosco: To push back the delivery of two jackup drilling rigs by nine months. The US$380m contract was announced in Nov '13 from a Bermuda company, which also secured options for two additional rigs.

*Yanlord Land: S&P downgraded corporate credit rating from BB- to B+, as a reflection of the unlikely material improvement of group’s leverage. The credit rating company cited that Yanlord’s expected revenue growth and scale expansion will not be sufficient to offset its declining profitability and intended debt increase.

*Mapletree Logistics Trust: Entered agreement with Nippon Express for an AEI at Moriya Centre in Ibaraki at an estimated cost of ¥1.4b ($16.2m) to cater for the business growth requirements of Nippon Express. The AEI works are scheduled to commence in Apr ‘15 and complete by Mar ‘16. Upon completion, Nippon Express will lease the new warehouse space with an annual rental escalation till Dec ‘21.

*GLP: Leasing 190,000 sqm to JD.com in China. The ecommerce player is one of GLP’s largest clients.

*Polaris: SoftBank Group has acquired a 19.9% stake in associate Trikomsel, a leading retailer and distributor of mobile communication products in Indonesia. Polaris remains the largest shareholder with 44.88% stake.

*SingHaiyi: Proposed to dispose 90%-owned Corporate Residence, the developer for 56-unit residential property City Suites, for $16.4m. Group is of the view that the move is in its best interest, as the 90% unsold development is close to being required to pay a levy as a result of the Qualifying Certificate requirement. The main contractor, ACG Construction, has expressed an interest to buy the Balestier Road development.

*PEC: Granted option to purchase to WIT Engineering, for the sale of 27 Tuas Avenue 3 for $7.1m, excluding GST. The property is no longer required by the group following the shift of operations to the current Benoi property.

*Wee Hur: Acquired three plots of land totalling 16,946 sqm at Wooloongabba, Brisbane for A$51.3m, as part of its strategy to venture into overseas property development.

*Ascendas REIT: Divesting 26 Senoko Way for $24.8m, or a 60% premium to its original acquisition price in 2007.

*Manhattan Resources: Acquisition of Singxin Water extended to 1 July.

*Zico Holdings: Acquisition of Stamford Law extended from 31 Mar to 30 Apr.

*Epicentre: Extended its proposed RTO with Healthtrends Medical Investments from 31 May to 14 Apr.