US stocks fell on profit taking on concerns about an earlier-than-expected withdrawal of government stimulus after the FED minutes showed policy makers were divided about the strategy behind the current bond purchase program until there s a 'substantial' improvement in the US labour market. Several policy makers said the central bank should be ready to vary the pace of their $85 billion monthly bond purchases. This, coupled with news of the Chinese government re-tightening its property stance, should result in a pullback for the STI for the current session.

Chinese government has tightened its property policy stance again and earlier than expected. Measures include 1st and 2^nd tier cities setting price control target and local governments being responsible for their targets; and implementing household purchase restriction policy strictly and extending these policies when necessary. While these policies are not new, the policy tone has turned tight again after a year of loosening stance. Chinese property stocks such as Yanlord and Ying Li could be impacted by the news.

An upward revision is on the cards for the 4Q12 GDP figures for Singapore due tomorrow morning. The economy is expected to expand 2.5% QoQ saar (1.3% YoY) in the quarter. This is an upward revision from the advance estimate of 1.8% QoQ saar (1.1% YoY). It also marks a turnaround in the growth trajectory from the 6% decline in the previous quarter. Overall, this will bring full year GDP growth to 1.3%. This is the slowest full year growth since 2009 as well as the weakest across East Asia in 2012. The main drag came from the manufacturing sector although the other sectors performed poorly as well.

4Q12 and FY12 earnings for OKP Holdings slightly below as operating costs were higher than expected due to tight labour supply. Order book and revenue outlook remains positive, however tight labour supply will continue to challenge margins. FY12 DPS of 1.5 Scts was declared, below our 2.0 Scts expectations, represents 2.8% yield. Maintain Hold, TP unchanged at S$0.49.

Capitalandreported 4Q12 revenue of $1.1b, +4.9% yoy, while net profit of $263m was down 44.9% yoy. For the full year, it recorded revenue of $3.3b while net profit came in at $930m, -12.9% yoy. This is slightly ahead of consensus estimates. The decline was largely due to smaller revaluation and portfolio gains. Stripping out these factors, the group saw operating net profit of $369m, up 4.9% yoy. The improvement was due to higher contributions from development activities in Singapore, China and Australia as well as better shopping mall business at CMA. Will provide more updates after the analyst briefing. We currently have a Buy call on the stock. TP of $4.09 is under review.

4Q12 revenue for Ezioncame in at US$52m (+92% y-o-y, +35% q-o-q), with net profit of US$20m (+86% y-o-y, +26% q-o-q). This brought FY12 topline to US$159m (+48% y-o-y) and headline net profit to US$79m (+36% y-o-y). Stripping out exceptionals (disposal gain for one liftboat sold and leased back during the year), core FY12 net profit was US$65m (+38% y-o-y), in line with expectations. More updates post analyst briefing this morning. Maintain BUY, TP of S$2.12 under review.

Maxi-Cash Financial Services Corporation is proposing a bonus issue of up to 71.04m new shares on the basis of one (1) Bonus Share for every five (5) existing shares held.

Koh Brothers has been awarded a S$99.8m contract from the PUB, Singapore's national water agency. The contract, with a contract period of 36 months, has commenced on February 18, 2013. This project is the second phase in a three-phase expansion of the Bukit Timah First Diversion Canal.

The Lippo group and a private equity fund have invested $37.54m in GSH Corp through a stock placement as the trading company enters the Chinese real estate development market. GSH said it will use $3m of the net proceeds of $37.5m for working capital, and the rest will be used for prospective merger and acquisition opportunities.

The Year of the Snake could bring with it more initial public offerings (IPOs) into a buoyant equity market, investment bankers say. The Singapore market has had three listings so far this year, raising some $91.6m, according to SGX data. In comparison, no IPO had been launched by this time last year as prospects of a China slowdown and a crash in the economies of Europe and US had left issuers and underwriters wringing their hands. All three - construction firm Logistics Holdings, Rubber processor Halcyon Agri and Overseas Education Limited are all currently trading above their IPO price. For the whole of last year, SGX had 21 listings raising US$4.1bn in total, Dealogic data showed.

Singapore Changi Airport handled 4.33m passenger movements in January, an increase of 1.9% y-o-y. Air traffic movements rose 2.2% y-o-y to 28,200 flights. The Chinese New Year holidays in January last year meant that there was a higher traffic base which affected the magnitude of growth last month. Passenger traffic at Changi hit a record high of 51.2m passenger movements last year, up 10% from the previous year.

Source: DBSV