TODAY'S HEADLINE
Bursa-SGX link finally gets a date: Sept 18 
The long-delayed Asean trading link will finally begin on Sept 18 - if it does not get postponed again.
Ater an epic wait, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Bursa Malaysia yesterday finally put a firm date on the start of the cross-trading arrangement between the two bourses.

The link  - which has seen its target date pushed back a number of imes since the idea was first mooted about five years ago  - will allow traders in Malaysia and Singapore to directly trade stocks on both exchanges. Thailand is expected to be the next jurisdicion to join the partnership.

To prepare for the new link, SGX will also introduce new rules that govern how market paricipants can directly access SGX's securiies trading system. The new rules will take effect on Sept 18.

The trading link has received mostly lukewarm feedback from the industry. While observers are generally posiive on the potenial for improved liquidity in the markets, there has also been scepicism about actual market demand for cross-border trading.

SGX was also careful to align the move with a longer-term horizon.

"The Asean trading link is designed to facilitate more efficient crossborder trading," an SGX spokesman said. "As the intent is to facilitate greater efficiency, we do not necessarily expect an immediate, significantly large increase in cross-border trade. Cross-border trade growth will come as the clients of large and small intermediaries experience the new ease of cross-border transacions."

This is not the first ime that SGX has dabbled in cross-border trading. The exchange ied up with the Australian Stock Exchange at the turn of the century, but that trading link was shut down in 2006 amid weak demand for the service.

NEWS BUZZ
CapitaLand Ltd (S$3.000)
CapitaLand launches Rales City Chengdu 
CAPITALAND'S Rales City Chengdu, the fourth "Rales City" development in the group's internaional porfolio, was officially launched yesterday.

Rales City Chengdu, located along Renmin South Road, sits in the heart of the city's internaional business hub and is connected to the interchange of Lines 1 & 3 of the Chengdu Metro. The mixed development, with a gross floor area of 195,000 square metres, comprises a shopping mall, grade A offices, a hotel, serviced residences and premium apartments.

The grade A office tower and shopping mall begin operaions this month. Office tenants include Singapore firms such as Silkair, Surbana and CapitaLand China and committed mall tenants include Singapore brands such as Bee Cheng Hiang, Charles & Keith, Food Republic and OSIM.

Hi-P International Ltd (S$0.935)
Hi-P's $300m move seen as Apple-linked 
ANALYSTS are speculaing whether Hi-P Internaional's investment of at least $300 million signals that Apple has chosen the electro-mechanical modules firm as a key supplier.
On Friday, Hi-P said it would pump in $300 million for the first phase of a producion plant to manufacture and sell its electrical components in China's Nantong Economic & Technological Development Area.

Ezra Holdings Ltd (S$1.075)
Ezra's Triyards moving into equipment, repair 
SOON-to-be listed Ezra Holdings subsidiary Triyards laid out its ambiions to grow two lines of business ater its introducion on the Singapore Exchange mainboard: offshore equipment and ship repairs.
Triyards is slated for lising on Oct 11 by way of Ezra distribuing 97 million shares, or 33 per cent, of Triyards to exising Ezra shareholders, as dividends in specie. The total issued shares amount to 295 million with Ezra holding on to 67 per cent of the company.

At the moment, Triyards is the fabricaion and engineering arm of Ezra.Its order book of US$613.1 million comprises three offshore support vessels, a self-elevaing unit (SEU) and a complex ice-class pipelay vessel - all to be delivered in 2012-2014 from its two Vietnam yards.

Historically, Triyards gets US$150-200 million of orders a year mainly to fabricate and building of specialised offshore vessels and SEUs, which are offshore floaing plaforms with living quarters.
The order book's composiion is set to change dramaically ater it is listed.
Source: The Business Times

Source: AmFraser