US markets fell as investors grew increasingly uneasy about the current deadlock to raise the debt limit as the deadline drew closer. The Treasury said it will exhaust measures to avoid exceeding the debt limit on Oct 17 and if that happens, the government will run out of cash to pay all of its bills sometime from Oct 22 to Oct 31. STI should start the session lower on the back of the overnight fall on Wall Street. Our view that STI at c.3100 offers bargain hunt opportunities on the presumption that US does not go into default stays valid. Moody's Investors Service, for example, said it sees a "very low" chance the US will default on its debt payments. But with the first deadline of Oct 17 draws closer, the odds are increasing that a resolution may come sometime from Oct 17 to Oct 31. This can result in near-term volatility, and opportunity, if one takes the view that the US "lifts" 1 foot off the cliff but pulls back at the last minute.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is widely expected to keep the appreciating stance of the Singapore dollar and announce no change to the slope, width and midpoint of the band within which the Singapore dollar is allowed to move, in its policy statement due on Monday. This would reiterate that keeping inflation in check is the chief priority behind the twice-yearly monetary policy review.

Advance GDP figures for Q3 will also be released on the same day and is expected to show that the Singapore economy shrank an annualised 4.1% q-o-q - after a 15.6% surge in Q2.

Swissco Holdingshas secured 2-years charter contracts for two AHTs, to be deployed in West Africa. It has also secured immediate short term contracts for two newly delivered vessels. This reiterates the healthy demand for Swissco's vessels as the Group continues to focus on vessel expansion and fleet renewal program to enhance its fleet capabilities.

Optus and Virgin Australia have signed a $60m telecommunications agreement. The services will be delivered over Optus' managed data network with the resilience and scalability required to meet Virgin Australia's critical quality assurance standards.

Sembcorp Industriesannounced that its joint venture in Oman, Sembcorp Salalah Power & Water Company (Sembcorp Salalah), has commenced trading of its ordinary shares on the Muscat Securities Market. The IPO was 8.3 times oversubscribed and raised OMR53 million (approximately S$173m), making it the largest in Oman this year as well as one of the largest in the region. Following the listing, Sembcorp Salalah is now 40% owned by Sembcorp's wholly-owned subsidiary Sembcorp Utilities; vs 60% before the listing.

Ace Achieve Infocomproposed to raise up to 100m new shares at an issue price of S$0.043 per share, representing a discount of approximately 2.27% to the last volume weighted price and raising S$4.3m. The funds will be mainly used to fund research and development activities of the Group, and also for the investment in software for research and development purposes.

Koh Brothers Grouphas kick-started operations at its first precast plant in Senai, within Iskandar, Malaysia. This plant is expected to be fully operational in the last quarter of 2013. Total land area for Precast Plants, including the 49,000 sqm of land in Singapore, jumps to 96,000 sqm. The additional production capacity of 75,000 m3 will boost total annual production capacity to 150,000 m3. This can cater to strong demand for precast concrete arising from ramp up of public housing supply in Singapore and development of Iskandar Malaysia. The new plant is also in response to the Singapore Government's call to raise productivity in the construction sector.

Federal International (2000) has secured orders in relation to the supply of flowline control and other oil and gas related equipment totalling S$38m for deliveries in 2014.The outlook for Singapore is on course to remain positive for Q4, despite potential downside risks and uncertainties over the tapering of quantitative easing in the US, according to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Singapore's latest Business Optimism Index (BOI). It said all six leading business indicators are in the expansionary region for Q4, compared with five in the previous quarter. The six indicators are net profits, volume of sales, inventory levels, selling prices, new orders and employment. 

Source: DBSV