STI is likely to continue its decline yesterday on the back of the overnight fall on Wall Street as QE tapering concerns continue to weigh, on top of the lack lustre 2Q results season and unrest in Egypt. This is in line with our view that the index will likely be choppy heading into September. Further decline can test the near-term support at 3200 and 3170. We also maintain our view that the June's low at 3066 should hold.

4Q13 results for Jaya Holdings were in line. Fleet utilisation rate of 91% in 4Q and higher charter rates provide evidence of better execution. Vessel disposal gains of US$20m supported the 157% growth in recurring net profit for FY13 to US$49m. Final DPS of 3.5Scts announced, which implies an attractive yield of 5.6% at current prices. Maintain BUY with higher TP of S$0.90 (Prev S$ 0.85).

2Q13 earnings of Rp65.9bn for Indofood Agri were below our and consensus expectations. Drop in Edible Oils & Fats EBITDA, delayed sugar harvesting, delayed mill completion dragged overall performance. FY13F-15F earnings cut by 10-46%, TP cut to S$0.81 (Prev S$ 1.04). Maintain HOLD.

SIA operating results for July 2013. In July 2013, SIA's system wide passenger carriage (measured in revenue passenger kilometers) grew 4.4% y-o-y against a 3.9% increase in capacity (measured in available seat kilometers). As a result, passenger load factor (PLF) improved by 0.3 percentage points to 80.8%. The number of passengers carried increased by 3.7% to 1.6 million. The higher passenger load factor was due to the traditional summer peak. Overall cargo traffic (measured in freight-tonnekilometres) was 9.1% lower y-o-y, while cargo capacity decreased by 6.7%. Consequently, cargo load factor (CLF) decreased by 1.5 percentage points. Load factors were lower for all route regions except East Asia and Europe.

SingTel will buy more shares in Bharti Telecom to tap potential growth in India. SingTel's stake in Bharti Telecom, which is linked to Bharti Airtel, will increase to 39.78% from 36.16% after the acquisition. The company's effective interest in Bharti Airtel will rise to 32.34% from 30.76%.

Capitaland'swholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott, has secured contracts to manage three more properties in China. These include its first serviced residence in Hefei - the 250-unit Somerset Swan Lake Hefei, which is slated to open in 2017. The other properties are the 150-unit Ascott Nanbin Chongqing and 167-unit Somerset Software Park Xiamen. Both are slated to open in 2015. With the three new properties, Ascott will boasts of more than 9,000 apartment units in 51 properties across 20 cities in its China portfolio.

Elektromotive has entered into a MOU to acquire 51% equity stake in a hot dip galvanizing plant in Singapore. High quality hot dip galvanizing services the building & construction, oil & petrochemical, marine offshore and general steel fabrication industries. The acquisition is expected to contribute positively to the Group's performance.

Ntegrator Internationalis sinking its roots deeper into Myanmar, with the issuance of a Certificate of Incorporation (Temporary) and Form of Permit (Temporary) by the Myanmar Government for theincorporation of an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary in Myanmar, Ntegrator Myanmar. This wholly-owned subsidiary in Myanmar will be well-positioned to tap business and growth opportunities directly.

QingMei Groupexpects to report losses for the full year results for FY Jun 13 mainly due to continued slowdown in demand, excessive inventory and unfavourable business activities in the sport shoes industry in China.

XMH Holdings has secured new orders worth of S$4.6m from an Indonesian customer. The orders are to supply engines, gearboxes and ACEGEN marine power generating sets to a return customer. 

Singapore's non-oil domestic export (NODX) continued to fall in July, though the year-on-year decline eased sharply from 8.9% in June to 0.7% last month. Compared to the previous month, July's NODX dipped a seasonally adjusted 1.1%, after rising 3.3% m-o-m in June. The year-on-year drop was due to a contraction in electronic NODX (-7.6% against -12.4% in June) which outweighed the increase in non-electronic NODX (up 3.0% against -7.2% in June). NODX fell month-on-month because of a decrease in both electronic and non-electronic NODX. NODX shipments to all top 10 markets, except the US, Hong Kong, China and Japan, declined year-on-year in July. The top three contributors to the fall were the EU, South Korea and Taiwan. 

Singapore's new home sales (ex-ECs) tumbled to just 481 units in July, less than a third of the 1,806 units that were sold the previous month as the impact of the 60% TDSR ruling weighed. Including ECs, July new home sales read 593 units, also barely a third of June's figure of 2,119 homes. Some 296 of the units (excluding ECS) sold were located in the OCR versus 140 in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and 45 in the Core Central Region (CCR).

Month-on-month comparisons show that demand for homes in the OCR dropped by 78.3%, followed by CCR which dropped by 62.2% and RCR which dropped by 57.0%.

Singapore's retail sales fell 4% y-o-y in June as car sales tumbled. Retailers of motor vehicles reported a 26.9% decline in sales compared to a year ago. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales went up 2.6%. Retail sales of telecommunications apparatus & computers and furniture & household equipment also decreased 8.2% and 3.5% respectively in June 2013. On a seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales fell 6.9% in June 2013 compared to May 2013. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales went up 1%.

In property news, a 99-year leasehold commercial site at Cecil Street/Telok Ayer Street has fetched four bids at a state tender that closed on Thursday. The top bid of S$923.95m, which works out to S$1,112.44 psf ppr, was from Frasers Centrepoint's unit FC Commercial Trustee. The second highest bid, from Euland, was for around S$936 psf ppr.

US stocks fell as consensus view strengthened that the FED will begin QE tapering come September. Economists expect the first step to be small with monthly purchases reduced by USD10mil to USD75mil. The 10-year treasury yield spiked up to 2.82% before ending the session at 2.77%. Weaker-than-expected earnings forecast by Cisco and Wal-Mart as well as the unrest in Egypt added to the uncertainties.

Source: DBSV