A slightly better than expected June US manufacturing PMI (actual 50.9, consensus 50.5) lifted stocks higher but indices still ended off session highs. Yesterday marks the start of a closely followed data heavy week that ends with June's employment data on Friday. This, coupled with a holiday shortened week (Thursday being a national holiday in US) is likely to result in choppy trading with much data driven amid thinner than usual volume. With a lack of catalyst to drive the Singapore market on the local front, the choppy near-term trend is likely to be reflected here in Singapore as well. 

In the bond market, the MAS 10-yr bond yields saw a slight rebound from 2.35% to 2.56% yesterday but still below the high of 2.77% seen on 24 June. The Urban Redevelopment Authority's second quarter flash estimates showed that its benchmark private home price index rose 0.8% from Q1, supported by a 3% escalation in prices of non-landed homes in suburban areas. This compares with respective increases of 0.6% and 1.4% in Q1. URA's non-landed private home price index in Core Central Region dipped 0.2% q-on-q in Q2 - contrasting with a 0.6% increase in the previous quarter. In Rest of Central Region, the Q2 flash estimate reflects a 0.2% q-on-q rise, identical to the Q1 performance. URA's benchmark overall private home price index for Q2 was 3.9% higher y-o-y.  

Prices of resale HDB flats grew at their slowest pace in over four years in the second quarter, as both demand and supply-side factors bit. Flash estimates of HDB's resale price index (RPI) released yesterday showed a 0.5% increase over the first quarter, the lowest quarterly growth since Q1 2009. Two main factors cited for the deceleration were cooling measures introduced in January and an abundance of new flats.

CNA Group inked a memorandum of understanding with its real estate partner in Thailand, West East International (WEI), and Tokyo-listed Tama Home to design and build homes targeted at the Japanese community in Thailand. The entire real estate project, to be co-developed by CNA, WEI and Tama will span a land area of 36,800 square metres in Sriracha, a city south of Bangkok that consists of premier service apartments and residential buildings. The first phase, which will occupy some 6,400 sq m, will have a saleable built-up area of 20,000 sq m. The development is expected to be completed in four phases over three to five years.

OKP Holdings has been awarded a $6.7m PUB contract for the improvement works of Stamford Canal.  The contract raises OKP's order book to $415.2m.

Otto Marine has sold a multi-purpose field support and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) support vessel for about US$50m in a sale-and-leaseback deal. This deal is expected to have a positive impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share or earnings per share of the company for FY Dec 13.

In China, the official purchasing managers' index (PMI) slipped from 50.8 in May to 50.1 in June, just a whisker above the 50-point level that separates growth from contraction. New orders index, a sub-index under the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), was at 50.4 in June, down sharply from 51.8 in the previous month. A separate PMI survey conducted by Markit and sponsored by HSBC, painted an even gloomier picture. It fell to a ninemonth low of 48.2 in June, from May's 49.2. This suggests that small and medium enterprises have seen their output contract for two consecutive months, HSBC said. 

Source: DBSV