Daily Market Watch - 24 August 2012

SINGAPORE

No major news.

US indices fell on Thursday pressured by pharmaceuticals and health care equipment & services sectors. On the US economic data front, initial jobless claims rose by 4,000 to 372,000 (365K expected) in the week ended August 18th. New home sales increased 3.6% MoM in July (+4.3% expected) while house price index rose 0.7% MoM (+0.6% expected) in June. Looking at some major US corporate releases, Hewlett Packard (HPQ -8.15% to $17.64) posted 3Q LPS of $4.49 vs EPS of $0.93 a year earlier (adjusted EPS down 9.1% YoY to $1.00) on revenue of $29.7B, down 4.9%. Separately, Guess? Inc (GES -22.63% to $25.95) reported 2Q EPS down 24.6% YoY to $0.49 on revenue of $635M, down 6.2%. In other news, Big Lots (BIG -20.8% to $30.76) posted 2Q EPS of $0.36, below estimates, vs $0.5 a year ago. After the US market close, Autodesk (ADSK) posted a 2Q adjusted EPS of $0.48 vs $0.49 expected ($0.44 a year ago) on revenue of $569M vs $593.6M expected, up 4% YoY.

In Europe , euro zone PMI composite advanced to 46.6 in August vs 46.5 the month before. PMI manufacturing increased to 45.3 vs 44 in July while PMI services fell to 47.5 vs 47.9 the month before. German 2Q GDP was confirmed at +0.3% QoQ. Still in Germany , PMI services decreased to 48.3 in August vs 50.3 in July. Regarding the stocks, Petropavlovsk tumbled as the Co reported a 90% drop in 1H profit. Diageo outperformed the market on strong FY results. This morning, the Nikkei225 index opened extremely lower.

CHINA - HK

Bank of China (3988) posted 1H net income up 7.6% YoY to 71.6B yuan. Net interest income rose 12.6% to 124.1B yuan while non-interest income was down 0.3% to 55.6B yuan. ROE was down to 18.99% from 19.86% a year earlier. Core capital adequacy ratio edged up to 10.15% at end-June from 10.08% at end-December, while non-performing loans ratio edged down to 0.94% from 1.00%.

BOC Hong Kong (2388) unveiled 1H net income down 6.3% YoY to HK$11.2B, pointing out: "The decline in profits was mainly due to the net recovery from the underlying collateral of the Lehman Brothers Minibonds recorded in 1H2011. Excluding such impact, operating profit before impairment allowances and profit attributable to the equity holders registered encouraging increase of 24.0% and 16.2% respectively." 1H net operating income rose 20.1% on the year to HK$18.2B, with net interest income being up 23.7% to HK$12.6B and net fee & commission income up 2.9% to HK$4.1B. Capital adequacy ratio climbed to 17.43% at end-June from 16.90% at end-Demcember.

China Minsheng Banking Corp (1988) announced 1H net income rose 36.9% YoY to 19.1B yuan. 1H net interest income grew 28.2% YoY to 37.9B yuan while net non-interest income surged 45.8% to 13.5B yuan. ROE climbed to 13.64% from 12.69% a year earlier. Core capital adequacy ratio climbed to 8.41% at end-June from 7.87% from end-December while non-performing loans ratio edged up to 0.69% from 0.63%. The Bank proposed an interim dividend of 0.15 yuan per share (1H2011: Nil).

Ping An Insurance (2318) posted 1H net income up 9.4% YoY to 14.0B. Life insurance generated net income of 7.0B yuan, up 4.0%, property & casualty insurance 2.7B yuan, up 2.0%, banking 6.7B yuan vs 2.4B yuan in the previous year. Net investment income rose 29.1% to 20.9B yuan and net investment yield climbed to 4.5% from 4.3% a year earlier. The Co declared an interim dividend of 0.15 yuan per share, the same as in a year earlier.

PetroChina (857) reported 1H net income down 6.0% YoY to 62.0B yuan and operating profit down 13.4% to 86.2B yuan, citing "the increased amount of imported natural gas, the inverse relationship between the selling price and cost of imported natural gas, the macroeconomic regulation and control over the prices of domestic refined products and the increase in costs". The Co declared an interim dividend of 0.1525 yuan per share vs 0.16229 yuan a year earlier.

Kunlun Energy (135) posted 1H net income up 32.5% YoY to HK$3.5B on revenue of HK$15.6B, up 32.2%.

China Resources Gas (1193) reported 1H net income up 35.6% YoY to 752M yuan on turnover of 7.9B yuan, up 42.5%. Separately the Co said it has agreed to acquire CR Petrochem, which operates a domestic portfolio of city gas distribution businesses, from two subsidiaries of parent China Resources Holdings.

China Unicom ( Hong Kong ) Ltd (762) said 1H net income rose 31.9% YoY to 3.4B yuan and EBITDA grew 12.5% to 36.0B yuan on revenue of 121.7B yuan, up 20.0%. The Co pointed out: "Service revenue from the mobile business of the Co was 60.48B yuan, an increase of 23.4% over the same period last year. (...) The ARPU of mobile subscribers was 48.1 yuan, an increase of 2.8% (...) Service revenue from the fixed-line broadband business was 19.40B yuan, an increase of 13.0% over the same period last year, and accounted for 46.7% of the service revenue from the fixed-line business."

China Mobile (941) announced it has agreed to acquire a 15% stake in Shenzhen-listed Anhui USTC iFlytek Co (002230), which produces text to speech conversion softwares, for 19.40 yuan per share or 1.4B yuan in total.

China National Building Material (3323) said 1H net income plunged 47.3% YoY to 1.9B yuan on revenue of 37.9B yuan, up 9.8%. 

Shangri-La Asia Ltd (69)'s 1H net income soared 83.0% YoY to $198M on sales of $973M, up 8.8%. The Co declared an interim dividend of HK$0.1 per share, the same as in a year earlier.

Google Trend HK - popular searches: Wharf Holdings (4)

China Construction Bank Corp (601939), China Shenhua Energy-H (1088), China Shenhua Energy (601088), Yanzhou Coal Mining-H (1171), Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology (002202), Chalco-H (2600), Aluminum Corp of China (601600), Yanzhou Coal Mining (600188), Shanghai Electric Group (601727): 1H results expected.

Sinolink Securities (600109), Guangxi Wuzhou Zhongheng Group Co (600252), Shuangliang Eco-Energy Systems (600481), Bank Of Nanjing (601009), Jiangsu Zongyi Co (600770), Xiamen C & D Inc (600153), Inner Mongolia MengDian HuaNeng Thermal Power Corp (600863), Beijing Wangfujing Department Store Group Co (600859), Shanghai Zhangjiang High-Tech Park Development (600895), Pacific Securities/China (601099), Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart (600655), Sinochem International Corp (600500), China Everbright Bank (601818), Shanghai Dazhong Public Utilities Group (600635), North China Pharmaceutical (600812), China International Marine Containers (000039), Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet (000060), GD Midea Holding (000527), Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co (000825), CITIC Guoan Information Industry (000839): 2Q results expected.