Asian markets are starting the week on a down beat note in reaction to Cyprus imposing a deposit levy in a bid by their govt to raise the €5.8bil funds demanded by Euro-area finance ministers. On  Saturday, the EU unveiled a €10bil plan to rescue Cyprus' banking sector and avoid a default. But as part of the bailout, the EU wants a one-time 9.9% tax on deposits of more than €100,000 starting Tuesday. As a result, Cyprus people are rushing to withdraw their money from the banks. Although Cyprus contributes just less than 0.5% of EZ economy, the deposit levy is a first among troubled Euro-zone nations that rekindles EZ worries. STI is likely to react in the current session in tandem. Otherwise, over the mid-longer term, we continue to see it heading to 3600.

Index adjustment and portfolio rebalancing were possible causes of the last minute sell-down in numerous stocks last Friday. Property stocks CityDev, Capitaland, Guoccoland and HK Land were among those affected. If so, these stocks should rebound this week because such events are one-off, even as policy risk concerns continue to weigh on the sector. Near-term bounce for Capitaland should lift it towards $3.57 while that for CityDev is seen at $11.20.

Singapore's key non-oil exports fell 30.6% y-o-y in February, after rising 0.4% in January, and lower than market consensus of 17.7% contraction, due to a sharp decline in both electronics and non-electronics shipments to all its major destinations. Compared with the previous month, exports unexpectedly fell 2.4% in seasonally adjusted terms, after contracting 1.8% m-o-m in January. The market had projected a 4.5% rise in February. Electronics exports declined 27.4% y-o-y, after falling 5.6% in January, while non-electronics shipments fell 32.0%, compared with a 3.7% rise in the previous month. Pharmaceutical exports fell 56.5%, after falling 22.9% in the previous month. Shipments to the European Union, its biggest export destination, fell 52.2% y-o-y in February, compared with a 18.4% fall in the previous month. Exports to the US fell 52.1% y-o-y after falling 14.1% in January. Exports to China fell 10.6% after the previous month's 17.8% increase.

Sembcorp Marinehas secured orders for two jack-up rigs worth US$417m. The orders are from Mexico's Oro Negro, which has ordered two similar rigs previously. The new rigs are scheduled for delivery at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014 and end of the first quarter 2015.

SIA said it flew a total of 1.42m passengers last month, a 5.1% increase from 1.35m passengers a year ago. A 5.1% hike in passenger carriage and 2.4% improvement in capacity resulted in passenger load factor (PLF) improving 2.1 percentage points to 78.2%, from 76.1% in February last year. SIA said it benefited from the Chinese New Year holidays, which took place in mid-February, and PLF improved across all routes except for South West Pacific, which declined 1.4 percentage points to 82.1% as growth in passenger carriage was outpaced by capacity increases. PLF for the Americas posted the most significant growth, up 4.3 percentage points to 77.6% from 73.3% a year ago. On a year-on-year basis, PLF for West Africa and Africa saw the slightest improvement, up 0.7 percentage point to 71.3% from 70.6%. On the SIA cargo front, load factor was 62.7%, up 0.8 percentage points from 61.9% a year ago.

Boustead Singaporehas entered into a joint venture agreement that will lead to the undertaking of a $75m solar power project in Japan. The joint venture vehicle, Kinnon Green, owns the rights to a 20 megawatt solar photo voltaic power generation portfolio in Kyushu, Japan. The investment will be financed by a mixture of equity and long-term bank loans.

SingTel is conducting a strategic review of the Optus Satellite business to optimise value for shareholders. SingTel will make an appropriate announcement in the event of any material development arising from the review.

After a strong showing in January, the private residential market took a beating last month, as both homebuyers and developers took pause amid a double whammy of new cooling measures and a traditional lull period during Chinese New Year. New private-home sales in February, excluding Executive Condominiums (ECs), fell to 708 units, down 65% from the 2,016 units sold in January. This was the lowest volume since December 2011. Developers also held back launches, offering just 261 units - the fewest since January 2009. This was 86% lower than the 1,802 units in January 2013. Mass-market residences continued to drive sales, with 341 units sold located in the Outside Central Region (OCR). Another 198 units were from the Core Central Region (CCR), with the remaining 169 units from the Rest of Central Region (RCR).

Retail sales fell 2% y-o-y in January, vs market expectation of a 0.1% contraction, due mainly to sharply lower retail sales from food and beverage outlets and department stores. This was a result of the Chinese New Year holidays occurring in January 2012, compared to February this year. Retail sales of supermarkets, apparel and footwear, recreational goods, telecommunications products and computers, watches and jewellery and provision and sundry shops registered yearly declines of between 3.2% and 8.7%. In contrast, retailers of motor vehicles recorded a 10.5% increase in sales, while furniture and household equipment retailers reported a 6.8% sales growth.

Source: DBSV