Singapore Market
Posted On Thursday, March 27, 2008 at at 2:40 PM by Finance AnalysisIt a long time since I posted anything. Sorry for the delay. Do leave comments.
Singapore: Singapore market declined following a two day rally. Due to a lack of fresh buying leads, investors chose to lock in profits and wait at the sideline. This is despite the unexpected 10% increase in February factory output. Cues are still heavily dependent on US economic data. FTSE-STI down 4.97 or 0.2% to close at 2,995.22 points. Trading volume was 1.47 billion shares valued at S$1.57 billion and losers outnumbered gainers 370 to 253. Commodities supplier Olam International Ltd suffered a 14.1% lost to S$1.95 after its rating was cut to “sell” from “neutral” by Merrill Lynch.
Wall Street: US market retreated after pessimistic numbers on February’s durable goods orders. The Commerce Department released a 1.7% dip in last month’s order for durable goods, which is indicative on business spending and consumer demand. This is its second consecutive shrink. Adding to worries, the Commerce Department also announced that sales of new homes slumped 1.8% in February, which dragged down sales for the fourth straight month to a 13-year low. Dow Jones slipped 109.74 or
0.9% to 12,422.86 points and Nasdaq dropped 16.69 or 0.7% to close at 2,324.36 points. However, crude oil soared US$4.58 to close at US$105.80 per barrel on NYMEX.
Outlook: The mini-rally that started on Monday and moved the benchmark STI to the 3,000 level is likely to end earlier than our expectation. We have expected the market to rally towards the end of the week on expectation of better Singapore manufacturing number. True, the index for industrial productions has registered another month of double-digit growth, by 10% in February 2008 after growing 12.8% in January (see Chart). However, investors chose to remain at the sidelines pending further development in the US. Thus, the worst-than-expected US durable orders are likely to lead to some profit taking today. The US economy is probably in a recession now. However, the Singapore economy is expected to remain healthy, shown by the latest manufacturing numbers. With the backing of the Singapore economy, buy on weakness will still be the preferred investment strategy.
Singapore: Singapore market declined following a two day rally. Due to a lack of fresh buying leads, investors chose to lock in profits and wait at the sideline. This is despite the unexpected 10% increase in February factory output. Cues are still heavily dependent on US economic data. FTSE-STI down 4.97 or 0.2% to close at 2,995.22 points. Trading volume was 1.47 billion shares valued at S$1.57 billion and losers outnumbered gainers 370 to 253. Commodities supplier Olam International Ltd suffered a 14.1% lost to S$1.95 after its rating was cut to “sell” from “neutral” by Merrill Lynch.
Wall Street: US market retreated after pessimistic numbers on February’s durable goods orders. The Commerce Department released a 1.7% dip in last month’s order for durable goods, which is indicative on business spending and consumer demand. This is its second consecutive shrink. Adding to worries, the Commerce Department also announced that sales of new homes slumped 1.8% in February, which dragged down sales for the fourth straight month to a 13-year low. Dow Jones slipped 109.74 or
0.9% to 12,422.86 points and Nasdaq dropped 16.69 or 0.7% to close at 2,324.36 points. However, crude oil soared US$4.58 to close at US$105.80 per barrel on NYMEX.
Outlook: The mini-rally that started on Monday and moved the benchmark STI to the 3,000 level is likely to end earlier than our expectation. We have expected the market to rally towards the end of the week on expectation of better Singapore manufacturing number. True, the index for industrial productions has registered another month of double-digit growth, by 10% in February 2008 after growing 12.8% in January (see Chart). However, investors chose to remain at the sidelines pending further development in the US. Thus, the worst-than-expected US durable orders are likely to lead to some profit taking today. The US economy is probably in a recession now. However, the Singapore economy is expected to remain healthy, shown by the latest manufacturing numbers. With the backing of the Singapore economy, buy on weakness will still be the preferred investment strategy.
Source: WestComb
