USDSGD's pullback should find support at 1.35 ahead of next month's MAS policy meeting
The bond market has been quiet in the O&M sector, this according to an article on the Business Times. No O&M companies have tapped the local bond market since November last year. Instead, some have turned to other fund-raising methods such as share placements and rights issues amid climbing bond yields. All eyes are now on Swiber Holdings - which has S$95mil in debt due to be repaid in June this year - and to a smaller extent Ezra Holdings, which has S$225miln of bonds due and S$150mil of perpetuals callable in September, according to Bloomberg data.
Genting Singapore'swholly owned Resorts World at Sentosa has secured a S$2.27bil credit facilities to refinance facilities of S$4.1925bil obtained in 2011. According to Genting Singapore, the syndicated senior secured credit facilities will enable RWS to extend the tenure of its existing facilities to 2020 and offer the firm better repayments terms. This in turn will enhance its balance sheet strength and financial flexibility.
Our China economist says it is unwise to read too negatively into headline PMI figures because they do not reflect the actual microeconomic situation. The weakness of the March HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI - which fell to 49.2 in March from 50.7 in February - is primarily attributed to severe labor shortages in coastal cities, which affected output even if external demand was improving. Local businesses from a variety of industries indicated that orders from the US were steady since 2Q14.
US stocks fell and the USD rebounded after the latest February CPI m-o-m (actual +0.2%, consensus +0.2%, prev. -0.7%) showed inflation stabilizing. February new home sales (actual 539k, consensus 464k) came in better-than-expected. Against the USDSGD has pulled back to 1.36. This is in line with our recent technical view for short-term limited upside at 1.40 and a pullback towards 1.35 before finding support. Going forward, further downside likely to be marginal at 1.35 moving into next month's MAS policy meeting.
Source: DBS