Thursday, March 16, 2017

SG Market (16 Mar 17)

Expect positive sentiment to spill over to the Singapore market after Fed raised its benchmark rate as expected and on a rebound in oil prices as well as strength in the underlying domestic economy.

Regional bourses opened mostly higher in Tokyo (-0.2%), Seoul (+1%) and Sydney (+0.4%).Topside resistance for the STI is seen at 3,150, with downside support at 3,120.

Stocks to watch:
*Economy: Economists have raised Singapore's 2017 GDP growth estimate to 2.3% (previous: 1.5%), nearer MKE's 2.5% forecast. This was spurred by anticipated improvement in the manufacturing (est: +4.5%, previous: +1.5%) and finance & insurance (est: +2%, previous: +1.8%) sectors.

*SIA: Feb group pax load factor improved 2.4ppts to 80.7%, as passenger traffic growth (+4.1%) outpaced capacity expansion (+0.9%). Load factors rose on promotions across East Asia (+3.5ppts), Americas (+5.6ppts), Europe (+5ppts) and Mid-East/Africa (+6.7ppts), with the exception of SW Pacific (-3.3ppts). Subsidiary carriers’ load factors were mixed with Tigerair (+1.4ppts to 83%) climbing, while Silkair (-0.9ppts to 73.1%) and Scoot (-1.7ppts to 85.1%) slipped. Cargo load factor rose 2.4ppts to 61.4% as capacity contraction (-5.9%) overshadowed decline in carriage (-2.1%). MKE last had a Hold with TP of $9.70.

*Noble: Proposed 10-into-1 share consolidation in a bid to reduce volatility and improve liquidity by narrowing the bid/ask spread, and concurrently soften the impact of speculative orders on the stock.

*Soilbuild Construction: Awarded $149.4m contract by the HDB to build a high rise multi-user food factory at Bedok North Avenue 4. The contract would raise its contract order book to $562.2m. Construction is expected to commence in 1Q17 and will take about 32 months to complete.

*HMI: Received strong interest for its 11-for 200 rights issue, with 145.7% subscription rate. This will raise gross proceeds of $18.5m which will be used to increase its ownership stake in Mahkota Medical Centre and Regency Specialist Hospital to 100% (prior: 48.9% and 60.8% respectively).

*Sarine Tech: Commenced operations at its new 55,000 sf facility in Surat, India, consolidating all of its Surat-based activities for the Indian diamond market under one roof.

*HL Global: Extended the long stop date for proposed disposal of LKN Investment by one month to 15 Apr.

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