US and European equities rallied overnight in a knee-jerk reaction following a pledge by ECB President Mario Draghi to defend the Euro. 10-yr Spanish and Italian bond yields retreated. Still, our economist notes the usual obstacles. Meanwhile US weekly initial claims contracted a more than expected amount to 353k (consensus 380k). US 2Q GDP will be released later tonight. Our economist sees the figure dipping to 1.1% (consensus 1.4%).

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust reported decent y-o-y volume growth at both Yantian (4%) in China and HIT (8%) ports in Hong Kong in 2Q12; boosted by transhipment cargo. 3.1UScts DPU was declared in 1H12, as per IPO guidance. DPU should be sustainable at 6.6UScts level annually, as capex deferral is not a very significant proportion of total distributable cash flow in FY12. Maintain BUY with unchanged TP of US$0.85.

Sheng Siong Groupreported 2Q12 profit of S$7m (-2% y-o-y) slightly below our analyst's expectations on weaker recovery in ASP. FY12F/FY13F earnings trimmed by 6%/7% on lower gross margin assumptions. DPS of 1Sct was declared; we expect 5.8% yield for FY12F. Maintain HOLD and S$0.47 TP.

MBS was hit by lower VIP rolling chip & win rate, and higher receivables provision in 2Q12. Our analyst has cut 2012-14E earnings for Genting Singapore by 9-12% and downgrade to Hold with lower TP of S$1.17(Prev S$ 2.05). Genting Singapore's 2Q12 results will likely be unexciting, but 2H12 should be stronger with the completion of Western Zone by 4Q12.

Mapletree Commercial Trust's 1Q13/14 results in line with estimates at 25% of our analyst's forecast. Vivocity's rental reversions and retention rates remain robust. Maintain BUY at S$1.12 TP. We continue to like MCT's defensive nature backed by quality assets.

Kreuz Holdingshas won a contract worth approximately US$13m from a leading offshore company in the oil and gas business to provide subsea installation services in Southeast Asia. The work is scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2012 for a duration of approximately three months, with option for further extension.

Noble Group has shelved plans to sell its agriculture unit, saying now is the time to build the business amid declining asset prices. Noble shares have declined 13% since the company said in October it might spin off its agriculture business and list it on the Singapore Exchange.

Mapletree Logistics Trust Chief Executive Richard Lai has resigned for personal reasons. MLT has named Ng Kiat as successor with immediate effect. Prior to her appointment, Ms Ng was chief investment officer for Southeast Asia at Singapore developer Mapletree Investments, which is the sponsor of Mapletree Logistics. She had also served roles at Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and real estate group CapitaLand.

SC Globalannounced that its ASX-listed subsidiary AVJennings expects to provide between A$32 to A$37m on an after tax basis against the carrying value of its assets as at 30 June 2012. AVJ expects to make a post-tax operating profit before provisioning of around A$5.1m for the year and after provisioning a net loss of A$27 to A$32m. SC Global owns 50.03% of AVJ. As a result, it is expected to report a net loss for the quarter ended 30 June 2012.

Fujian Zhenyun Plastics Industry is expected to report lower net profit for 1H12 as the slowdown in the China's economy resulted in fewer suitable projects available and competition for the projects eroded gross profit margins.

The executive chairman of Hup Soon Global Corp plans to take the company private in a deal that values the industrial equipment and automotive products distributor at $36.4m. Spei Holdings, owned by Hup Soon chairman and chief executive Timothy Chia Chee Ming and three others, is offering 10 cents a share for the 74.1m shares it does not already control.

Teledata is placing 548.8m new shares at S$0.008 per share. The issue price represents a discount of approximately 12% to last weighted average price. The net proceeds of approximately S$4.2m will be used for the funding of new projects and to finance the general working capital requirements of the group.

Singapore's June industrial output rose 7.6% y-o-y, more than double the 2.8% consensus forecast, thanks to pharmaceuticals' anti-cyclical surge and also better than May's revised growth of 6.8%. Excluding the 54.4% y-o- y surge in biomedical production, manufacturing output shrank 1.5% in June from a year ago. In month-on- month terms, overall industrial output rose 3.9% after seasonal adjustments, but fell 3.8% minus biomedical output. Stripping out the volatile sector, June's seasonally-adjusted industrial production index sank to its lowest reading since November last year. Electronics continued to shrink year-on-year. Even though its contraction narrowed from 9.4% in May to 4.5% in June, prospects for the cluster, which accounts for more than a third of manufacturing, remain dim.

In a move that could impact the Singapore-Changi hub, Australia's Qantas Airways and Dubai-based Emirates are headed for an alliance that may see Qantas bypass Singapore as its "kangaroo route" hop-off. The Australian Financial Review said the move could result in Qantas's flights from Australia to Europe being diverted through the Middle Eastern hub of Dubai, bypassing Singapore-Changi in the process. This would be a major change, given that Qantas has a long track record in Singapore stretching back some 70 years and is one of the biggest airline groups operating at the airport. It currently has about 130 flights each week via Changi, and together with its Jetstar unit, accounts for some 12% of the traffic at Changi. Qantas is also a major consumer of ground services at Changi, and uses SIA Engineering for its maintenance and repair.

Source: DBS