Singapore News Highlights for Friday

• Employment growth for Singapore citizens and permanent residents is likely to taper off significantly in the coming years and employers will continue to find it costly to hire workers, whether local or foreign.
• Oil prices inched higher in Asia on Thursday but gains were capped as dealers fretted over an over-supplied global market after US crude reserves once again swelled to a record high.
• BLACKROCK Inc, an associate of Keppel Corp, made a series of dealings on Keppel Land shares on Thursday.It purchased 7,000 shares at S$4.55 apiece and sold a total of 48,100 shares at prices ranging from S$4.53 to S$4.55 per share
• Singapore's financial regulator will work with commodity exchanges, investors and producers to support the development of the city-state as a trading center, including the expansion of clearing houses in Asia.
• The executive chairman of Sinotel Technologies, Jia Yue Ting, has made an offer to take the company private at 9.8 Singapore cents for each share that he does not already own.

Singapore: Wall St's Tues blowout weighs on local stocks

[SGX]TRADERS who bet that the Straits Times Index's Tuesday weakness foretold a plunge ahead on Wall Street would have got it right as the US market closed weaker during its Tuesday session. However, even though those traders would have got the direction right, few would have anticipated the size of Wall Street's plunge - the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.9 per cent and the S&P 500 1.7 per cent.

A sudden upward burst in the US dollar was blamed for Wall St's blowout, though underlying the move was probably the spectre of interest rates being raised sooner rather than later. Whatever the case, the outcome was yet more selling here that pulled the Straits Times Index 19.67 points down to 3,378.59 - its third consecutive fall this week.

Turnover, which has hovered around the S$1.2 billion mark for the previous few sessions, amounted to 1.4 billion units worth S$1.2 billion and excluding warrants, there were 114 rises versus 309 falls.

Index stocks that contributed the most to the fall were the banks and Jardine group. Genting Singapore also continued its recent downtrend on worries over its earnings in view of slower VIP traffic, the counter slipping S$0.005 to S$0.93 on volume of 31 million. In the buying-in market, the largest trade was one million Genting shares bought-in at S$0.945 per share.

Stocks to watch: Yoma, Noble, Darco

[SGX] A SUBSIDIARY of Yoma Strategic Holdings has received approval from the Myanmar Investment Commission for the extension of its lease and the redevelopment of the former headquarters of Burma Railways Co into a luxury hotel, the Myanmar development company announced on Wednesday.

The affected site also includes the non-operational Grand Meeyahta Hotel. The redevelopment project is being undertaken by Meeyahta International Hotel Ltd, in which Yoma holds an 80 per cent stake.Yoma shares closed at 39 Singapore cents on Wednesday before the announcement.

Commodity trader Noble Group heads into Thursday's market at a 17-month closing low of 92 Singapore cents following three straight losing sessions. The stock has come under pressure since mid-February, when the little-known Iceberg Research issued the first of two reports that allege aggressive accounting by Noble, which has vigorously rebutted those claims.

On Wednesday, Noble said wholly owned subsidiary Maylion has further acquired about 7.9 billion shares in Australian metallurgical coal producer Cockatoo Coal for A$15.87 million (S$16.7 million).

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has issued a "trade with caution" note on Darco Water Technologies after the water treatment company said it was unaware of any undisclosed information that could explain a sharp spike in its share price on Wednesday.

Darco shares jumped 29 per cent, or 0.7 Singapore cent, to close at 3.1 Singapore cents on Wednesday with 41.4 million shares changing hands, the highest daily volume in at least three and a half years, according to data from ShareInvestor.com.
In response to a trading query from SGX, Darco did note that it is in constant discussions on potential projects and may from time to time enter into discussions about potential acquisitions as part of its normal business.

Singapore STI follows Wall Street's modest decline to slip 0.2% after opening

[SGX]THE Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 7.57 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 3,371.02 as at 9.02am on Thursday in the wake of a slight decline on Wall Street and ahead of a relatively light day for economic data.

Among the most active stocks out of the gate were Yoma Strategic Holdings, up 6.4 per cent or 2.5 Singapore cents at 41.5 Singapore cents; Darco Water Technologies, up 3.2 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent at 3.2 Singapore cents; and Moya Asia, up 2 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent at 5.2 Singapore cents.

A total of 61.7 million shares worth S$62.2 million had changed hands as at 9.02am. Gainers were evenly matched with losers, with 61 stocks up versus 62 down.

Stocks to watch: Noble, CNA, Yangzijiang

Singapore Stock Exchange[SGX]- NOBLE Group is seeking about US$3 billion of bank loans to refinance debt that will be due in May, according to reports.

The commodities trader has a US$2 billion 364-day revolving credit facility signed in May 2014, and in May 2012 it signed a multi-tranche loan that included a US$992 million three-year revolver and a 155 million euro (S$232 million) three-year revolver.

Noble is doing the refinancing as it deals with allegations of aggressive accounting by a research firm called Iceberg Research.

Noble shares closed at S$1 on Monday.

CNA Group has secured S$9.65 million of contracts from July 2014 to February 2015, the provider of building management systems said on Tuesday. Those contracts are expected to have a material impact on 2015 earnings.

The company's current order book stands at S$77.1 million.

CNA Group's shares last traded at 2.4 Singapore cents on Monday.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings executive chairman and group chief executive Ren Yuanlin will pass the CEO title to his son, Ren Letian, on May 1. The father will remain as executive chairman.

Mr Ren Letian joined the shipbuilder in 2006, and is currently general manager of Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co.

Yangzijiang shares closed at S$1.22 on Monday

Hot stocks: S-Reits fall; Singapore government bond yields rise after positive US jobs report

Singapore Stock Exchange[SGX]- SINGAPORE real estate investment trusts (S-Reits) saw drawdowns on Monday on elevated volumes, while yields on Singapore's 10-year government bonds climbed 10 basis points to 2.4 per cent, a new high since October 2014, putting pressure on bond prices here.

CMC Markets analyst Nicholas Teo said this in a note on Tuesday morning. He added this came on the back of last Friday's positive US jobs report, which led the yield on 10-year US Treasuries to surge to their highest level this year, past the 2.2 per cent yield.

This was likely because the market now expects the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hike to come sooner rather than later, he said. Interest-rate increases are seen as a negative for yield instruments such as Reits.

"In turn, this has laid renewed pressure on Singapore Reits, a proxy yield play in the local market. Suntec Reit, CapitaMall Trust, Mapletree Commercial Trust and Fortune Reit, all saw drawdowns of between 1.4 per cent to 3.35 per cent in trading yesterday (on Monday)," he said.

SGX opens derivatives office in HK to target Greater China

Singapore Stock Exchange[SGX]- SINGAPORE Exchange (SGX) has opened a derivatives office in Hong Kong to deepen its presence in the Greater China region, the market operator announced on Monday.

The Chinese market took on greater importance for SGX in late 2014 as the start of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect trading link drove up interest in SGX's China A50 futures. Those contracts were seen as a hedging instrument and as a proxy to a market that was expected to benefit from the easing of access to the Shanghai stock market.

Single-day volume on the China A50 futures hit a high of 594,551 contracts in January.

Chew Sutat, executive vice-president of SGX, said that the exchange's Hong Kong operations have been growing partly due to products that include contracts for gold, iron ore, offshore renminbi and other foreign exchange pairs.

SingPost, Trikomsel in e-commerce JV

Singapore Stock Exchange[SGX]- SINGAPORE Post (SingPost) is teaming up with Indonesian mobile phone retailer Trikomsel to develop an e-commerce business in Indonesia.

SingPost and Trikomsel will form a joint venture, with the Singapore mail carrier taking a 33 per cent stake for US$1.1 million and Tricomsel the remaining 67 per cent.

The joint venture will import and supply goods to e-commerce and online retailers, as well as provide support for creating e-commerce platforms.

"Indonesia is expected to become the third-largest consumer base in the world, after China and India, and the seventh-largest economy worldwide," SingPost chief executive Wolfgang Baier said in a statement. "As the regional enabler of e-commerce, it is crucial for us to find the right partners in emerging markets. Trikomsel has a broad retail distribution reach and will provide access to convenient pick-up locations across the country."

SingPost shares last traded at S$1.96 on March 6.

Singapore STI takes early hit from Wall St's pre-weekend woes

[SGX] THE Straits Times Index (STI) fell 27.65 points, or 0.8 per cent, early on Monday to 3,389.86 in the wake of Wall Street's tumble before the weekend, when strong US jobs data raised concerns of earlier-than-expected interest rate hikes.

A total of 65 million shares worth S$128.7 million changed hands as at 9:01am. Losers outpaced gainers 107 to 41.

The most active stocks out of the gate were Noble Group, down 2.4 per cent or 2.5 Singapore cents to S$1.03 as at 9:02am, and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, down 0.7 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 69 Singapore cents.

Stocks to watch: Genting HK, China Fishery, SingPost

Singapore Stock Exchange[SGX]- THE Singapore market will open on Monday in the wake of a poor Wall Street outing over the weekend as strong US jobs data raised concerns about earlier-than-expected interest rate hikes.

Genting Hong Kong will resume trading having announced a sale of shares in associate Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Genting Hong Kong said that it will record a gain of about US$218.2 million from the sale.

Genting Hong Kong shares last changed hands at 35.5 US cents on March 5, before trading was halted for the announcement.

China Fishery Group has set the date for an extraordinary general meeting for March 25. The company will seek shareholder approval for a rights issue of four rights shares for every five shares held. The rights shares will be sold at 17.3 Singapore cents apiece.

China Fishery shares last traded at 17.3 Singapore cents.

Singapore Post said that it will invest US$1.1 million for a 33 per cent stake in a joint venture with Trikomsel to develop an e-commerce business in Indonesia.

SingPost shares closed at S$1.96 on March 6.