Banking Worries Overshadow Money Markets
Equities rose strongly on Thursday as members of Congress decided in principle to pass a US$700b Treasury plan to bail out the banking system. The gains in US equities and credit came in spite of US economic numbers suggesting growth was slowing sharply, and a profit warning from GE. Anthony Conroy, head of trading at BNYConvergEx, said: “Approval of the plan will help stabilise financials and it will give us some time to ease our way out of the deleveraging process.” The growing sense of optimism came after strains in the money markets intensified and key indicators of risk rose to record levels earlier in the day. However, analysts warned that the ills in the banking system could still spread to the high street, leading to company defaults and deep recession.

HS Compression & Process Signs US$38.7m LOI
Hiap Seng Engineering’s 87%-owned subsidiary, HS Compression & Process has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an offshore company for the supply of gas compressor modules worth US$38.7m for a FPSO project. The LOI shall operate as a binding agreement and delivery is scheduled to be in October 2009. The deal is expected to contribute positively towards FY09 results.

Hsu Fu Chi Recalls Puffed Rice Rolls Products
Hsu Fu Chi International has recalled two of its puffed rice rolls products – the Cheese and Butter Corn flavours following the detection of presence of melamine in them by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) of Singapore. The level of melamine detected were very low compared to the specified Tolerable Daily Intake of melamine as established by the US Food and Drug Administration. According to the company, the loss incurred from the product recall is insignificant in the context of its total earnings.

Old Chang Kee Plans To Transfer To SGX Mainboard
Old Chang Kee is planning to make an application to the SGX-ST for the transfer of the company from Catalist-NS to the Official List of the Mainboard of the SGX-ST. Under the Transition Measures, the company will be required to submit a quarterly progress report on its transition plans to the SGX by 1 November 2008.

Hup Soon Global’s Associated Company Signs Thailand JV Agreement
Hup Soon Global Corp’s associated company in Thailand, United Motor Works (Siam) has entered into a JV agreement with Chewathai, a company incorporated in Thailand, to develop its idle property on Surawongse Road in Bangkok, valued at Thb84m, into a residential condominium. Capital outlay required from the company will be minimal as it injects the land into the JV. The construction for the niche project aimed at local residents and expatriates is expected to take about 24 months and the company targets to achieve an average selling price of Thb0.12m psm.

Falcon Energy Acquires Stakes In New Companies
Falcon Energy Group has entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Cai Wenting and Cai Wenxing for the acquisition of 65% equity interest in Longzhu Oilfield Services (S), 65% equity interest in Terasa-Star International Shipping and 87% equity interest in CDS Oilfield Services for $8.8m to be satisfied by the allotment and issue of 23,716,216 new ordinary shares in the share capital of the company at the issue price of $0.37 per share. The company is said to be diversifying into the marine and oil and gas business.