SG Market (03 Apr 18)

MARKET OVERVIEW
- The market could face downward pressure following the tech-inspired selloff on Wall Street amid rising fears of a trade war as China slapped retaliatory tariffs on 128 US imports even as Singapore's factory activity continued to power ahead for the 19th straight month.
- Technically, the STI could retrace to the bottom-side of its short term downtrend channel near 3,390, with further downside support at 3,370 (200-dma).

MACRO WATCH
*Economy
- Mar PMI edged up to 53.0, which was above expectations of 52.8 and 52.7 in Feb.
- The broad-based expansion was led by a faster growth in factory output, as well as higher new orders and new exports.
- The electronics sub-sector rose 0.3pt to 52.7 (Feb: 52.4), which is its 20th consecutive month of expansion and the highest reading since Apr '11.

SECTOR WATCH
*Property
- Private home prices jumped 3.1% q/q in 1Q18 (4Q17: +0.8%), marking the steepest hike since 2Q10 (+5.3%).
- The price increase reaffirms our view that the property market recovery is well underway, spurred by ongoing bullish land bids by developers and wave of collective sales.
- In contrast, the public housing sector remains subdued with HDB resale prices dropping 0.8% q/q for its sixth consecutive quarter of decline due to increase in grants and shorter waiting time for new flats.
- Property analysts expect URA's overall private home price index to rise by 8-15% for the whole of this year,
- MKE's top large cap picks are UOL (TP: $10.40), CapitaLand (TP: $4.10) and City Dev (TP: $14.20), while its preferred mid-cap plays are GuocoLand (TP: $3.00), Bukit Sembawang (TP: $8.55) and Ho Bee Land (TP: $3.15).

NEUTRAL NEWS
*Miyoshi
- 15%-owned Core Power (Fujian) New Energy Automobile is jointly developing a new all-electric vehicle with Jiangxi Changhe Automotive.
- Both parties will develop a 5-door, 4 seater, all-electric passenger vehicle with new design, chassis, car interior, platform, batteries, electric motor and control unit.
- Trades at 12.9x trailing P/E.

*Compact Metal
- Submitted to SGX a new application for its removal from the Watch-List as the group is able to satisfy the requirement for exit.
- Trades at 0.81x P/B.

NEGATIVE NEWS
*Midas
- Received a notice of compliance from SGX demanding the the immediate resignation of two top officials, Chen Wei Ping and Ma Ming Zhang and barring their continuing appointment as director/executive officer for a period of three years.
- The regulator raises concerns over the suitabililty and integrity of the two individuals in their roles following the group's recent discovery of unauthorised loans and corporate guarantees, as well as undisclosed lawsuits against several of its China units.

*Yuuzoo
- Slapped with a second notice of compliance from SGX after a draft report by Ernst & Young revealed that it had failed to provide necessary access to information and data.
- SGX has since referred the draft report to relevant authorities for possible breaches of listing rules.
- Trading in the counter has been suspended since 19 Mar.