BREAKING NEWS - Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers withdrew his name from consideration to be chairman of the FED. Summers is considered the 'most hawkish' compared to the other 2, Janet Yellen and Donald Kohn. Financial markets are currently reacting. The USD is pullback with the Dollar Index dipped 0.315 of a point to 81.13. US 10-year yield is also pulling back to 2.8846% (-0.025).

News of Summers' withdrawal eases some of the current concerns for equities with regards to how quickly QE will be tapered and short rates will rise down the road. Asia markets are currently firmly higher as are US futures. Yield plays such as S-REITs should rebound (refer to Traders Spectrum titled "Bond Yield going ↓ → SREITs going ↑" for our picks. Likewise emerging market stocks (e.g. Indo names) should also rebound as their currencies rebound against the USD.

Overseas Educationannounced that the SLA has on 13 September 2013 levied an additional land premium of S$9.1m on the new campus due to intensified land use. This is on top of a S$28m land premium payable for the site announced in June 2013. This additional levy would bring total development costs of the new campus to c.S$270m, which is within our estimated budget of S$280m. Hence, no change to forecast and S$1.01 TP for OEL.

Datapulse Technologyis proposing a capital reduction exercise. The CD and DVD services firm also announced that its non-executive chairman and director, Ng Khim Guan, had stepped down from both posts with effect from last Thursday. The proposed capital reduction will see the firm's shareholders receiving a cash distribution of 3.5 cents per share. According to Datapulse, there will be no share cancellation or change in the number of shares held by shareholders. Each shareholder will have the same number of shares before and immediately after the capital reduction. The board is of the view that the capital of the company is in excess of its immediate requirements and the proposed capital reduction will allow the group to achieve a more efficient capital structure.

CSC Holdings has grown the total value of its foundation contracts in Singapore and the region to $200m since its latest financial year began in April, after clinching two more deals. It has been awarded two foundation contracts: one for the future Terminal 4 at Changi Airport, and the other for the redevelopment of two buildings along Robinson Road.

Mermaid Maritimehas been awarded an initial of two years contract, with a one year option, to provide offshore Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM) services to a major Indonesian based upstream oil and gas operator. The estimated contract value for the initial term is USD 55m.

Federal Internationalis acquiring a land drilling rig for US$10.4m, to be satisfied by cash of US$7.7m and the balance of US$2.7m through the issue of new shares at an issue price of S$0.10 per share.

Singaporean Ho Kwok Wai, a consultant, has entered into a deal to acquire 90.4m shares, or a stake of 73.86%, in mainboard-listed Singapore Windsor Holdings at 18 cents a share, triggering a general offer for the remaining interest at the same price. The consideration values Singapore Windsor at $22m.

Retail sales in July fell a sharper-than-expected 7.8% compared with a year earlier, as sales of motor vehicles were hit by the implementation of the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework at the end of June. The data was below market expectation of a decline of 1.5% and June's 4% drop. Stripping out vehicle sales - which plunged 42.7% y-o-y and 19.7% m-o-m - retail sales for July rose 2.5%. On a month-on-month basis, retail sales fell 5.3% in July, and were down 2.6% after excluding vehicle sales. Aside from motor vehicles, retail categories which posted lower year-on-year sales in July included telecommunications apparatus and computers (-7%), recreational goods (-3%) and wearing apparel and footwear (-2.4%). But petrol service station sales jumped 8.4% from a year ago, while receipts for food and beverages increased 5.7% and those of optical goods and books rose 4.9%.

Source: DBSV