KLCI: -0.16% to 1807.5
JCI: -0.21% to 4423.3                            SET: -2.85% to 1388.4
HSI: -0.26% to 23189                             HSCEI: +0.07% to 10686
Nifty: +0.16% to 6317.4                         ASX200: +0.64% to 5425.2
Nikkei: -0.88% to 14201                         S&P500: +0.36% to 1767.9
      
MARKET OUTLOOK:
By Joshua Tan, Head of Research

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Regional Market Focus

Singapore

• The benchmark STI closed flat at 3.203.94 (+0.09%). The 2.3bn shares traded were worth S$0.7bn in value.
• The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index declined -0.06% while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index gained +0.03%. The top active stocks were Sky One (+23.08%), Blumont (+13.39%), SingTel (+0.27%), DBS (+0.54%) and Noble Group (unchanged).
• We peg key near term support at 3,100 levels.
• Top Picks are DBS (Accumulate, TP: S$17.50), SingTel (Accumulate, TP: S$3.99) and Keppel Corp (Accumulate, TP: S$12.07). Deep Value Plays are Amara (Buy, TP: S$0.74), Boustead (Buy, TP: S$1.94) and Courts (Buy, TP: S$1.03).

Thailand

• The composite SET index lost as much as 2.85% and broke below a key support level of 1400 points amid domestic political worries after several groups took to the streets to protest against blanket amnesty bill on Mon.
• US equities advanced on upbeat US factory orders data and the market shifted its focus to US GDP and unemployment data due out later in the week. 
• Thai stocks remained under pressure from domestic political tensions. Even though market decline of up to 100 points from recent peak of 1485 points in the wake of US debt ceiling may slow down the pace of weakness and trigger sporadic bouts of bargain buying, we believe domestic political uncertainty would continue to put a cap on the market’s upside potential and open the way for further downside to test the lows of 1360 and 1320 points. To play safe, we advise investors to pare back equity holdings to 25% of the short-term portfolio to limit risk exposure in the near term while all eyes will remain on domestic political developments throughout the month at least until the current parliament session ends on Nov 28.  
• Resistance for the SET index is expected at 1400-1420 points and support at 1380-1360 points today.

Indonesia

• Closed.

Sri Lanka

• The bourse ends red. The Colombo bourse concluded within the red terrain once again mainly due to the poor buying sentiment and the lackluster participation of the investors, triggering the benchmark ASPI to fall by 26.95 points (-0.45%) and to settle the day at its intraday low at 5,927.41. The S&P SL20 ended the day at 3,274.31, losing 6.02 points or 0.18%. Price losers smashed the price gainers by 153:61. The aggregate turnover for the day amounted to LKR 419.36Mn, indicating a drop of 61.61% against the previous trading day. Under the sectorial round-up, Bank Finance & Insurance (BFI) sector provided LKR 188.91Mn (45.05% of the aggregated turnover) dominating the list, and Diversified Holdings (DIV) sector made a contribution of LKR 111.04Mn; the two sectors collectively accounted a notable 71.52% share of the total turnover for the day. The daily traded volume amounted to 22.17Mn shares, indicating a decrease of 45.43% against the previous trading day. Foreign Investors opened the week on a bullish note, resulting in a net foreign inflow of LKR 10.19Mn; foreign buying for the day amounted to LKR 151.43Mn and selling amounted to LKR 141.24Mn. The year to date net foreign inflow currently stands at LKR 23.28Bn. With regard to the local FOREX, the USD currently selling at LKR 132.61/- and buying at LKR 129.35/-.

Australia

• In Australia, shares on Monday closed moderately higher with surprisingly strong retail sales figures boosting department store stocks but failing to inject extra momentum into the overall market. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 7.3 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 5,418.4.
• Today (05/11/13), the Australian market looks set to open flat after Wall Street made modest gains ahead of a busy week of economic indicators. The first reading on US third-quarter gross domestic product is due out on Thursday, monthly US jobs report for October on Friday and US factory orders figures on Monday.
• Locally, in economic news on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia holds its November board meeting and decides on its cash rate position. The Australian Bureau of Statistics releases overseas arrivals and departure figures for September, while the  Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank Australian Performance of Services Index (PSI) for month just ended is due out.
• No major equities news is expected.

Hong Kong

• HSI climbed 43 points or 0.19% to 23,249. CEI closed at 10,678, up 51 points or 0.49%. Trading volume declined to HKD50 billion.
• For the macro economic front, China official manufacturing PMI in Oct came in at 51.4, better than expectation but didn’t show support to the market obviously.
• The rumor that Tingyi (322.HK) would co-operate with Japan’s the third largest milk powder firm, sent its share price up 6%.
• Dairy stocks out-performed with Biostime (1112.HK) and CH Modern D (1117.HK) gained 5.2% and 6.6% respectively.
• Home appliance sector out-performed after government’s subsidy policies, TCL Multimedia (1070.HK) and Skyworthdigital (751.HK) climbed 6.3% and 3.5% respectively.
• Technically, we remain biased for an eventual break above 23,554. The next resistance and support for HSI are 23,500 and 23,070 respectively.

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Morning Note
Company Highlights

Armarda Group has announced it has received its largest mobile satellite handset order to date with a single order of 5,000 Thuraya mobile satellite handsets from China PTAC E-commerce Technology. All 5,000 handsets are to be fully deployed for Chinese subscribers before 31 March 2014 to support China’s growing market. (Closing Price:  S$0.014, 0%)

Technics Oil and Gas announced that its 40.21% associate company – Norr Offshore Group Limited (NOG) has been awarded its 1st Micro LNG plant for the supply of process equipments and accessories for Indonesia. The contract is not expected to have positive material impact on the earnings per share for the financial year ending September 2014. (Closing Price: S$0.800, 0.629%)

Ascott Reit Trust to raise S$253.7 million through an underwritten rights issue to tap future growth opportunities. Existing unitholders will be offered the 253.7 million rights units at a ratio of one unit for every five units. They will be issued at S$1.00 each.  (Closing Price: S$1.290, -1.149%)