Shipbuilder COSCO Corp (S) is considering quoting its future contracts in Rmb, rather than US$, to address the Chinese currency’
Finally, a ray of hope shone on market participants as equities roared back to life.
The STI regained the 3,000 level on 25 March on the back of growing optimism over the state of US financial institutions and a steadier US currency. A revised US$10 per share offer for Bear Stearns by JPMorgan and a surprise rise in US housing sales helped to keep the bears at bay.
Following the surge, the STI ended the fortnight at around the same level as at end of January 2008. Any breakout above the 3,100
SMRT reported strong ridership numbers for February 2008. Ridership grew 14% YoY. Sequentially ridership was down 10% from January mainly on the back of seasonality.
Consumer confidence sank to a 5-year low in March as tight credit markets, rising prices and worsening job prospects reinforced the notion that the economy has fallen into recession.
The Conference Board, a business-backed research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plunged 11.9 points or 15.6% to 64.5 in March from a revised 76.4 in February. The March reading was way below the 73.0 expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson/IFR.
Meanwhile, a widely watched index of US home
Ford Motor Company (formerly the world’s second largest car maker, overtaken by Toyota) is expected to announce its long-awaited deal Wednesday to send its loss-making Land Rover and tarnished Jaguar divisions back overseas in an effort to trim the automaker’s losses, product lineup and help raise funds to propel its turnaround. Ford shares shrugged off early declines to close at US$6, up US$0.04 after Indian television station NDTV Profit reported that industrial conglomerate Tata Motors
Wall Street took a breather after a huge two-session rally Tuesday (25 March 2008) but closed mostly higher, holding on to almost all its gains even after disappointing reports on consumer sentiment and the housing market. These are signs of investors hoping the market would rally even higher. Stocks pulled past profit-taking that was due in part to the Conference Board’
Although, many analysts have recently lowered SSH’s fair value price ranging from $0.43 to $0.54, due to increased volatility and poor market sentiment, we still believe that SSH will perform even better going forward.
Japanese shares advanced, as exporters such as Canon Inc, Honda Motor Co. were bolstered by a weakened yen, while Shanghai-listed stocks managed to close 0.09% higher due to weak corporate earnings outlook. Taiwanese shares fell into the red after a five-day winning streak.
Analysts were skeptical the gains would be sustained, despite the strong gains posted on Wall Street and several other regional markets during the interim.
SYNOPSIS: 4Q07 was affected by sudden decline in OA orders and slow keypad sales but Mechatronics division performed better than expected. FV lowered to S$0.62. Maintain our long term BUY recommendation.
Malaysian crude palm oil futures was up 5.3% with the benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange touching RM3,505 ($1,096) a tonne. Although 22 % lower than last month’
