Daily Market Watch - 15 August 2012

SINGAPORE

Singapore Technologies Engineering (STE) posted 2Q net income up 9.7% YoY to S$143M and EBIT up 7.0% to S$166M on revenue of S$1.6B, up 5.8%. The Co said it expects higher revenue and profit before tax for FY2012 over FY2011.

Global Logistic Properties (GLP)'s 1Q net income rose 57.2% YoY to $153M and EBIT increased 53.7% to $188M on revenue of $171M, up 32.1%, citing "the completion and stabilization of development projects in China " and the acquisition of Transfar Logistics Base in December 2011.

Fraser and Neave Ltd (FNN) said Thailand 's Kindest Place Groups Ltd has agreed to extend its offer to buy the Co's directly-held 7.3% stake in Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd (APB) to August 24.

SembCorp Marine (SMM) announced its Jurong Shipyard unit has secured a $135m contract from Diamond Offshore Drilling to build a deep water rig.

Thai Beverage PCL (THBEV) reported 2Q net income up 64.2% YoY to 5.1B Thai baht.

SingTel (ST) was downgraded to "neutral" from "overweight" at JPMorgan.

DBS Group (DBS): ex-div S$0.28

Jardine Strategic (JS): ex-div $0.07

Hongkong Land Holdings (HKL): ex-div $0.06 Sembcorp Marine (SMM): ex-div S$0.05 Starhub (STH): ex-div S$0.05 Jardine Matheson (JM): ex-div $0.35

US indices were mixed on Tuesday. On the US economic data front, Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.3% MoM in July (+0.2% expected), advance retail sales for July rose 0.8% (+0.4% expected) and the US business inventories rose 0.1% (+0.2% expected) in June. Stocks in the household & personal products and retailing sectors traded higher while shares in the consumer durables & apparel and semiconductors & semiconductor equipment sectors were under pressure. Looking at some US corporate release, Home Depot (HD +3.58% to $54.71) reported for its 2Q a diluted EPS of $1.01 ($0.97 expected) compared with $0.86 a year ago with sales up 1.7% YoY to $20.6B. Separately, Monster Beverage's (MNST +9.99% to $58.59) board announced an additional $250M share buy back authorization. In other news, Estee Lauder (EL +9.31% to $60.13) reported FY12 adjusted diluted net EPS up 23% YoY to $2.27. Groupon (GRPN -27.02% to $5.51) posted 2Q adjusted EPS of $0.08 vs an adjusted LPS of 0.23 a year earlier on revenue of $568M, up 44.8%.

In Europe , euro zone GDP fell 0.2% in 2Q, as expected, after being flat in 1Q. Euro zone industrial production was down 0.6% in June (-0.7% expected) vs +0.9% in May (revised from +0.6%). German GDP grew 0.3% in 2Q (+0.2% expected) vs +0.5% in 1Q. ZEW survey on economic sentiment fell to -25.5 in August vs -19.3 in July and -19.6 expected. ZEW survey for current situation decreased to 18.2 in August vs 21.1 in July and 17.5 expected. French GDP was flat in 2Q (-0.1% expected). It was already flat in 1Q. French consumer prices decreased 0.5M in July, as expected. The had been flat in June. UK consumer prices increased 0.1% in July after having decreased 0.4% the month before. They were expected to be down 0.1% by the economists. Regarding the stocks, Standard Life gained ground on strong 1H results. CRH plunged as the company warned that sales decline in Europe will worsen. This morning, the Nikkei225 index opened slightly higher, and may challenge its resistance at 9,000 in sight.

CHINA - HK

Hong Kong 's total goods export volume fell 8.8% YoY in June (re-export volume down 8.7%) and imports volume was down 5.6% according to the government. June prices of total goods exports rose 4.8% while those of imports were up 3.2%.

Hong Kong 's Exchange Fund recorded foreign assets of HK$2,240.2B at end-July, up HK$7.0B MoM.

Standard Chartered (2888) has agreed to pay $340M to settle allegations that it hid illegal transactions linked to Iran announced the New York State Department of Financial Services.

China Life Insurance (2628) reported January-July premium income of 203.3B yuan vs 215.3B yuan in the previous year.

CITIC Securities (6030) made a clarification saying: "The Co is currently operating in good condition with excellent asset quality and stable management team. Its business is running in good progress. (...) There is no unpublished information about the Co which is discloseable but has not been disclosed. Ms. Zheng Jing, the Secretary to the Board of Directors of the Co, also solemnly declares that she has not disclosed to any person any untrue information such as 'the Co's layoffs and pay cuts' or 'severe loss of CLSA staff'."

Anhui Conch Cement (914)'s 1H net income fell 51.0% YoY to 2.9B yuan on revenue of 20.6B yuan, down 7.9%.

Cathay Pacific (293) said it together with Dragonair carried 2.5M passengers in July, down 0.7% YoY, adding: "While the passenger load factor dropped by 5.0 percentage points to 81.1%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), rose by 2.3%. (...) The two airlines carried 125,343 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 10.5% compared to July 2011. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 1.9 percentage points to 64.7%."

China Coal Energy (1898) reported July commercial coal production up 5.4% YoY to 9.1M tons, coke production down 30.0% to 140K tons and coal sales down 24.4% to 9.3M tons. January-July commercial coal production grew 6.2% YoY to 64.3 tons, coke production fell 13.8% to 1.1M tons and coal sales increased 5.7% to 81.7M tons.

China Power International Development Ltd (2380) unveiled 1H net income up 33.1% YoY to 548M yuan on revenue of 9.1B yuan, up 11.2%.

Nine Dragons Paper (2689) announced it has secured a $350M term loan facility from China Development Bank.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (600000) posted 1H net income up 33.5% YoY to 17.2B yuan on turnover of 40.0B yuan, up 25.5%. Capital adequacy ratio edged down to 12.2% at end-1H from 12.7% at end-2011.

XCMG Construction Machinery (000425) reported 1H net income down 28.7% YoY to 1.6B yuan on revenue of 18.0B yuan, down 8.0%.

Shenzhen Laibao Hi-tech Co (002106) said 1H net income plunged 69.6% YoY to 81M yuan on turnover of 600M yuan, down 5.1%.

Fiberhome Telecommunication Technologies Co (600498) unveiled 1H net income up 31.5% YoY to 287M yuan.

Google Trend HK - popular searches: CLP Holdings (2), Swire Properties Ltd (1972)

Tencent Holdings (700), Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer Co (1066): 2Q results expected.

Tsingtao Brewery (168): 1H results expected.

Shenzhen Development Bank Co (000001), Yunnan Baiyao Group (000538), Shandong Dong-E E-Jiao-A (000423), Zhejiang China Commodities City Group (600415), Baoji Titanium Industry (600456), Jihua Group Corp (601718): 2Q results expected.

HSBC (5): ex-div HK$0.09