The sharp tumble in Gold price over the past 2 sessions spilled over to the rest of the commodity space and affected equities as well last night. News of the Boston marathon bombing further aggravated the negative sentiment in US. These developments, together with the latest weaker-than-expected GDP data from China and the recent US March jobs numbers that opens questions on the strength of the global recovery have doused earlier optimism about another good 1Q results season in US.

The price of spot gold fell 13.6% in the past 2 sessions to USD1348/ounce. Talks of Cyprus selling its gold reserves and the recent strength of the USD were likely causes for the tumble. The drop in gold price spilled over to other precious metals and commodities as well with the CRB Index falling more than 3% to 280 and Brent crude down 3.8% to USD100pbl over the past 2 sessions.

Commodity related and cyclical/industrial stocks are likely to be weak today. For the STI, the 2 near-term support levels are at 3260 and if this level fails, 3230.

The volume-to-value ratio for Singapore Exchange has dipped to its lowest point at 0.32 in 1Q13, with average daily trading value of S$1.7bn. Total futures and options trading volumes surged in1Q13 but derivatives revenues could continue to be hurt by lower yielding products (similar trends as in previous quarter). FY13-15F earnings cut by 10-13% on lower estimates for derivatives and other revenues. Maintain HOLD, TP lowered to S$7.15 (Prev S$ 7.25) as we roll forward valuation base to FY14 EPS; 4% dividend yield should limit downside.

4Q13 results for Ascendas REIT in line. A-REIT continues to keep an active pipeline of development and asset enhancement projects (AEI), which are expected to drive earnings growth in FY14-15F. Maintain HOLD, TP raised to S$2.60 (Prev S$ 2.30) due to higher acquisition assumptions  and slightly lower discount rates.

Keppel REIT's1Q13 results were within expectations. Resilient portfolio underpinned by long leases and strong income visibility. Maintain HOLD, TP raised slightly to S$1.43 (Prev S$ 1.34).

Keppel Corp has secured a jack up contract worth US$226m from Singapore-listed Falcon Energy Group. The new order brings Keppel's YTD win to S$2.2bn, making up 36% of our full year assumption of S$6bn. No change to our earnings, maintain BUY and TP S$13.00.

Wilmar has acquired a 27.5% equity stake in Cosumar S.A., a company listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, for approximately US$263m. Subsequent to this transaction, a block of up to 26.5% will be sold to a consortium of Moroccan institutional investors, who together with Wilmar will constitute a strategic 54% controlling block in Cosumar. Based in Casablanca, Cosumar is the sole sugar supplier in Morocco. It is also the third largest sugar producer in Africa, with ownership of one of the largest refineries in the world, as well as seven beet and cane sugar mills situated in five regions in Morocco. Cosumar is a stable platform for Wilmar to expand its sugar operations in Africa. We do not expect this transaction to have any significant impact to the group's P&L as Wilmar had US$8.6 bn of cash and cash equivalent at the end of Dec12; while contribution from Cosumar is unlikely to be meaningfully visible on consolidated basis.

Far East Hospitality Trust has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with The Straits Trading Company to acquire Rendezvous Grand Hotel Singapore and Rendezvous Gallery for S$264.3m. This is Far East H-Trust's first acquisition since its initial public offering in August 2012. This acquisition is expected to be yield accretive.

BreadTalk Grouphas entered into a joint venture with a consortium of investors to develop three plots of land in Tongzhou district of Beijing, China, with total investment of S$14.5m.

Hafary Holdingsis proposing a share split of every one (1) existing share into two (2) shares. Upon the completion of the share split, the company shall have an issued and paid-up share capital of S$26.6m comprising 429m shares.

Contel and YuuZoo have entered into a Shares and Options Exchange Agreement whereby Contel will acquire the entire issued and outstanding YuuZoo share capital and options, by way of exchange for new Contel shares. Contel also proposed the consolidation of every five existing (5) shares into one (1) consolidated. The consideration of S$582.3m will be satisfied by allotment and issuance of up to 1,164.7m new consolidated Contel shares to YuuZoo shareholders, on the basis of S$0.5 per consolidated share. YuuZoo is a global social media & e-commerce company with approximately 40 million registered users in 164 countries, and builds mobile optimized but device-agnostic Targeted Social E-Commerce Networks for consumers.

In March 2013, Singapore Airlines recorded 2.7% y-o-y growth in system wide passenger carriage while capacity increased by 3.0%. As a result, passenger load factor (PLF) fell by 0.2 percentage points to 79.3%. The number of passengers carried increased by 3.3% to 1.6m. Load factors softened across all regions except for East Asia and Americas. South West Pacific route region registered the highest PLF decline, as capacity expansion outpaced the growth in passenger carriage. Overall cargo traffic was 1.7% lower y-o-y, whilst cargo capacity decreased by 5.0%. Consequently, cargo load factor (CLF) in March 2013 increased by 2.2 percentage points. CLFs were higher for all route regions through capacity management, except for East Asia where demand did not keep pace with capacity changes.

Private home sales including ECs for Mar 2013 surged 233% m-o-m to 3072 units. Taking out ECs, sales volume came in at 2793 units or 292% higher sequentially. The bulk of the activity continued to focus in the city fringe and suburban areas with Outside Central Region accounting for 65% of sales, followed by Rest of Central Region 29.4%.

Looking ahead, we expect monthly volume sales to range around an average 1500-1800 a month for this year even while price momentum continue to moderate on the back of attractive marketing strategies. With a decelerating but relatively flat price movement expected this year, we believe developers will continue to launch more projects to underpin cash flow generation. With overhanging policy risks, we expect developers to continue trading at a discount to RNAVs and we would continue to maintain a selective stance in stock picks. We continue to like Wing Tai for its attractive valuations.

Source: DBSV