STI:   +0.45%    to    3,186.37          KLCI:       +0.51%       to    1,807.60
JCI:   -0.41%    to    4,233.93           SET:         -0.99%        to    1,359.45
HSI:   -0.07%    to    23,789.09         HSCEI:    -0.15%        to    11,385.29
Nifty: +0.57%    to    6,091.85          ASX200:  +0.03%       to    5,334.34
Nikkei:+1.80%  to    15,727.12        S&P500:  +0.25%       to    1,807.23

MARKET OUTLOOK:
By Joshua Tan, Head of Research

Macro Data

Eurozone
Economic confidence in the euro area improved more than economists forecast to a 27-month high in November, the latest indication that the bloc’s recovery is gaining traction. An index of executive and consumer sentiment increased to 98.5 from 97.7 in October, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That’s above the median estimate of 98 in a Bloomberg News survey of 31 economists and is the highest reading since August 2011.

Germany’s inflation expectations rose from an 18-month low as a report showed consumer prices increased more in November than economists forecast, damping the case for further European Central Bank stimulus. Germany’s benchmark 10-year yield approached the lowest level since August before data tomorrow forecast to show euro-area inflation accelerated this month.

German unemployment rose for a fourth month in November, signaling an uneven recovery in Europe’s largest economy. The number of people out of work climbed a seasonally-adjusted 10,000 to 2.985 million, after gaining by a revised 3,000 in October. Economists predicted no change, according to the median of 33 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. The adjusted jobless rate was unchanged at 6.9 percent.

Thailand
Industrial production declined for the seventh-month straight in October to a seasonally adjusted rate of -4.0 percent compared to a year ago, after a 2.9 percent fall in September, said Office of Industrial Economics Thailand.

Thai Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, has survived a parliamentary non-confidence vote on Thursday, with 297 lawmakers voting in her favour and 134 against. However, it has failed to defuse tensions despite her urges to the anti-government demonstrators to end street protests.

Hong Kong
Retail sales growth gain momentum in October, logging a 6.3 percent y-o-y gain from a revised 5 percent y-o-y increment in the previous month, according to the data from the Census and Statistics Department.
 

Regional Market Focus

Singapore

• The benchmark STI closed 114.31 points higher at 3.186.37 (+0.45%). The 1.3bn shares traded were worth S$0.7bn in value.
• The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index gained +0.21% while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index gained +0.22%. The top active stocks were SingTel (-0.53%), DBS (+0.82%), Keppel Corporation (+0.62%), Wilmar International (+0.85%) and UOB (+0.86%).
• We peg key near term support at 3,100 levels.
• Top Picks are DBS (Accumulate, TP: S$17.50), SingTel (Accumulate, TP: S$4.06) and Keppel Corp (Accumulate, TP: S$12.07). Deep Value Plays are Amara (Buy, TP: S$0.74), and Boustead (Buy, TP: S$2.05).

Thailand

• Thai stocks traded in range in the morning session on Thu before the market succumbed to heavy selling in the afternoon while PM Yingluck Shinawatra and Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan survived the censure vote. The composite SET index finished the session down 0.99% on Thu.  
• In the absence of fresh positive triggers, Thai stocks are likely to hold in range with bias tilted to the downside more than the upside today. Domestic political turmoil remains a major cause for concern though PM Yingluck Shinawatra said in her national televised address yesterday that she is ready to negotiate but anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said there would be no any negotiations at all. Lingering political worries would continue to weigh on sentiment throughout the session.
• In the latest developments, 32 countries have issued travel warnings for Thailand due to ongoing political uncertainty, a move that could likely deal a blow to tourism this quarter and well into next quarter. The Thai baht weakened above 32 to the US dollar. Net foreign selling of Thai shares also continued but at a slower pace. Today we expect a trading range of 1340-1380 points for the SET index.
• Today we peg resistance for the main index at 1370-1390 points and support at 1340-1320 points.

• Most Indonesian stocks fell Thursday (28/11), as the Rupiah dropped further to more than 12,000 on US dollar strength. The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) declined 17.564 points, or 0.41%, to 4,233.925, with all but one major sector ended in red. Infrastructure sector stood out with 0.84%-gain, after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced a USD 400 million infrastructure loan to Indonesia. On the downside, mining sector plunged 1.33%, property, construction and real estate sector shed 1.06%, and trade, services and investment sector lost 1.00%. The LQ45 index slid 2.118 points, or 0.30%, to close at 702.379.
• Strength in the US dollar and lack of confidence on Indonesia’s economic outlook hurt the Rupiah lately. The government, under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has forecast 5% growth for the economy in the fourth quarter this year. 178 shares declined and 62 shares closed in positive territory Thursday on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, where regular market volume was 2.93 billion shares worth IDR 2.98 trillion. Foreign investors posted net purchase of IDR 85.44 billion.
• The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) will likely to consolidate today, amid lack of leads from global markets. Pressure may still come from weak Rupiah, which traded at more than 12,000 against the US dollar yesterday. On the upside, bargain hunting on value stocks may provide support for the JCI. We peg the support and resistance for the JCI at 4,164 and 4,309, respectively

• The Bourse recovered to some extent from its bearish run as the indices reversed gear to re-enter the positive terrain for the first time after four trading days, having witnessed a loss of 1.00% or 57 points. The market moved at a slower pace during the first half of trading, and however, towards the latter part it trended upwards to reach an intra-day peak of 5,764.34 gaining 20 points, and as at the daily closure the benchmark ASPI settled at 5,752.20 (up by 7.53 points or 0.13%). The S&P SL20 too closed marginally positive for the first time after 6 trading days gaining 1.07 points or 0.03% to settle the day at 3,163.59. With regard to the movements in share prices, 93 companies gained whereas, 84 witnessed drops. The aggregated turnover for the day amounted to LKR 718.86Mn, indicating a dip of 14.06% against the previous trading day. Under the sectorial summary, Information Technology (IT) sector stood out as the prime contributor providing LKR 221.80Mn, accounting to 30.85% of the total turnover. Diversified Holdings (INV) sector added LKR 195.62 to the daily turnover. The two sectors collectively accounted to nearly 60.00% of the aggregated turnover for the day. During the day, shares totaling up to 68.87Mn changed hands, recording a drop of 37.84% compared with the previous trading day. As at the day’s closure, the total market capitalization was recorded at LKR 2.39Tn, charting a year to date gain of 10.41%. The market PER & PBV stood at 14.92x and 1.95x respectively. Foreign participants were bearish during the day, to record a net foreign outflow of LKR 6.72Mn, resulted by foreign selling worth LKR 224.02Mn and buying of LKR 217.30Mn. Further, this reduced the year to date net foreign inflow to LKR 22.55Bn. With regard to the local FOREX, the USD is selling at LKR 132.85/- and the buying rate stands at LKR 129.59/-.

• The Australian share market on Thursday closed essentially flat after showed business investment grew strongly in the three months to September. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 1.7 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 5,326.6 points.
• Today (29/11/13), the Australian market looks set to open flat following gains on European markets amid quiet trade with Wall Street closed for the Thanksgiving public holiday.
• In economic news on Friday, the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to release financial aggregates data for October.
• In equities news, Primary Health Care, Beach Energy, Retail Food Group, Sundance Resources, Village Roadshow and Buderim Ginger have annual general meetings scheduled.

• Hong Kong shares ended virtually flat on late profit-taking Thursday after spending most of the day in positive territory following a record close on Wall Street.
• The benchmark Hang Seng Index edged down 17.26 points to 23,789.09 on turnover of HK$63.34 billion (US$8.17 billion).
• Chinese shares closed up 0.83 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 18.30 points to 2,219.37 on turnover of 119.6 billion yuan (US$19.6 billion). (Source: Business Times)

Morning Note
Company Highlights

Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp has sold all 85.83 million shares it owned in VPBank, a Vietnamese partly private lender, to Vietnamese investors, the Hanoi-based bank said on Thursday. The share sale, representing 14.88 per cent of VPBank, was completed on Nov 22, leaving no foreign ownership in the Vietnamese bank, VPBank said in a statement without giving any value or reasons for OCBC's move. The unlisted VPBank, fully known as the Vietnam Prosperity Bank, is the country's 10th largest partly private lender in terms of assets. (Closing price: S$10.50, +0.575%)

Singapore Press Holdings Limited announced the completion of the sale by its wholly owned subsidiary, SPH Net Pte Ltd, of its 24,787,501 ordinary shares in OpenNet Pte Ltd to CityNet Infrastructure Management Pte Ltd in its capacity as trustee-manager of Netlink Trust. Mr Chan Heng Loon Alan, a director of SPH, is also a director of OpenNet, will cease to be so upon the said completion. None of the directors of SPH has any interest, direct or indirect, in the matter. (Closing price: S$4.25, -0.235%)

The head of Noble Group's base metals operations in Singapore, Rene van der Kam, resigned in the past week, sources said on Thursday. The departure of Mr Van der Kam, who was a director of base metals at Noble Resources, may come as a blow to the commodities trader which has renewed a push to build up its base metals operations this year. The Singapore-listed firm hired a string of big hitting metals traders, including two from Goldman Sachs in the first half of the year. It recently also won a hotly contested deal to market in Europe the zinc produced by the world's top zinc smelter, Belgium's Nyrstar. Mr Van der Kam, a veteran of the metals business, joined Noble in June 2011 from metals trader RBS Sempra commodities, having also spent time at energy powerhouse Enron. He sits on the London Metal Exchange's tin committee as well. Metals trader Yingping Julie Zhu also left Noble Resources in the past week, the sources said. Ms Zhu previously worked at Swiss commodities trader Glencore. Both Mr Van der Kam and Ms Zhu declined to comment. Noble could not be reached for a comment. (Closing price: S$1.11, -%)

OXLEY Holdings said its wholly-owned subsidiary Oxley Ruby Sdn Bhd will develop 15.28 acres of land in the Malaysian state of Selangor. The freehold plot is in Bandar Ulu Kelang in Daerah Gombak. Oxley Ruby was granted the rights to develop the land upon signing a joint-venture agreement with the landowner, Peninsular Teamwork Sdn Bhd (PT). The agreement gives Oxley Ruby sole and absolute discretion to develop the land in any way it deems appropriate, and at its own cost. In return, PT will be entitled to 30 per cent of the gross development value of the project, a sum no less than RM200 million. As a security deposit, RM10 million has been paid by Oxley Ruby to PT. The joint venture is not expected to have a material impact on the earnings per share or net tangible assets per share of the company for the current financial year ending June 30, 2014. (Closing price: S$0.46, +1.099%)

Pteris Global Limited announced that it had entered into a conditional sale & purchase agreement with China International Marine Containers (Hong Kong) in connection with the proposed acquisition by the Company of a 70 per cent equity interest in Shenzhen CIMC-TianDa Airport Support Ltd by way of the acquisition by the Company of the entire issued and paid up share capital of Techman (Hong Kong) Limited. (Closing price: S$0.131, -%)

Source: PhillipCapital Research - 29 Nov 2013