Daily Morning Watch - 9 October 2012

SINGAPORE

Singapore 's foreign exchange reserves rose to $252.1B in September from $246.2B in August reported the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble will seek to revise Germany's bilateral tax treaty with Singapore during a visit to the country Sunday in a bid to fight against tax evasion, announced the German government.

US indices closed lower on Monday. On the US economic data front, there was no major news. Stocks in the consumer services and transportation sectors traded higher while shares in the technology hardware & equipment and automobiles sectors were under pressure. Take a look at some US company news, Navistar International (NAV +7.54% to $22.81) named 2 board members and added a third designated and mutually agreed upon by Icahn Partners and MHR Fund Management. Separately, Marathon Petroleum (MPC +5.56% to $57.92) has agreed to buy BP's Texas City refinery and related logistics and marketing assets for $598M, plus inventories estimated at $1.2B and an additional $700M over six years subject to certain conditions. In other news, Progress Software (PRGS -13.78% to $18.52): Jay Bhatt President and CEO announced his departure effective in December 2012. After the US market close, Principal Financial Group (PFG) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AFP Cuprum S.A. (Cuprum).

In Europe, in Germany , industrial production contracted by 0.5 percent in August compared with output in July. The drop was in line with expectations. In Germany , the jump in exports in August boosted the seasonally-adjusted trade surplus to 18.3 billion euros, its widest since September 2007, from a revised 16.3 billion euros in July. Regarding stocks, Cookson dropped after it said annual results will miss its forecasts. KBC Groep declined as the bank's strategy update disappointed investors. This morning, the Nikkei225 index opened lower, and remains below its key moving averages.

CHINA - HK

The IMF has lowered its global GDP growth forecast for 2012 to 3.3% from 3.5% previously and that for 2013 to 3.6% from 3.9%, citing conditions in the US and Europe. It now projects China 's GDP to grow 7.8% in 2012 (down from previous forecast of 8.0%) and 8.2% in 2013 (down from 8.5%).

Hong Kong 's official foreign currency reserve assets rose to $301.2B as end-September from $298.2B at end-August reported the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (388) announced daily transaction value dropped 27% YoY to HK$53.1B in January-September.

ZTE Corp (763): Cisco Systems Inc has terminated a sales partnership with the Co considering allegations that the Co had sold Cisco networking equipment to Iran 's largest telecom firm, reported Reuters citing a ZTE spokesman.

Sa Sa International Holdings (178) said its retail sales in Hong Kong and Macau during the National Day Golden Week Holidays (October 1-7) grew 19.5% YoY with same store sales rising 12.4%.

Lifestyle International Holdings (1212) announced it intends to issue fixed rate US-dollar-denominated guaranteed bonds.

Guangzhou R&F Properties (2777) reported September contracted sales down 17% YoY to 2.5B yuan and January-September revenue up 4% to 22.3B yuan.

Air China (753) announced trading in its A-shares will be halted for 5 days from October 9 as the Co is arranging a private share placement.

China Merchants Bank (600036) and China Merchants Securities Co (600999) have agreed to bought JV partner ING Groep's 33.3% stake in a China-based asset-management unit, called China Merchants Fund, for E98M in cash, announced ING.

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