NOL looks interesting to me..
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Pre-Market Open Commentary for 02 March 2010
DJIA: 10403.79 +78.53
Nasdaq Composite: 2273.57 +35.31
US stocks turned positive as investors welcome AIG’s US$35 bil asset sale and a pair of mergers in the pharmaceutical sector as well as easing fears of Greece’s debt default. AIG sold its Asian life insurance business to Britain’s Prudential PLC in a deal worth US$35.5 bil; the deal includes US$25 bil in cash of which US$16 bil has been earmarked to pay back the government and taxpayers.
Merger & acquisition deals further lifted the market with Japanese drug maker, Astellas Pharma making an unsolicited US$3.5 bil bid for OSI Pharmaceuticals, maker of blockbuster Tarceva cancer drug and the deal represents a 40% premium over OSI’s closing price last Friday. Separately, German pharmaceutical Merck plans to buy US-based Millipore for US$7.2 bil.
On the economic front, the readings were mixed. ISM manufacturing index fell to 56.5 in February, worse-than-expectations of a fall only to 57.9, from 58.4 in January while construction spending declined 0.6% in January, in line with expectations, after falling 1.2% in December.
All the major indices rose with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.76% while S&P 500 rose 1.02% to 1,115.71. Nasdaq composite surged 1.58%.
Reports of February auto and truck sales are due throughout Tuesday and Toyota is expected to take a hit following its recall of millions of vehicles plagued with safety issues. However, General Motors and Ford Motor are among the companies expected to post sales improvement from a year ago.
US light crude oil for April delivery fell US$0.96 to settle at US$79.66 a barrel.
In Singapore today:
Asian markets gained ground on Monday due to easing concerns that Greece will default on its massive debts led by a report by The Wall Street Journal over the weekend that a plan led by Germany and France to bail out Greece has started to take shape. Nikkei added 0.45% while Hang Seng surged 2.17% and the Shanghai market gained 1.18%. Mirroring the buoyant regional markets, the STI rose 23.20, or 0.84%, to 2774.06. For every stock that fell, 2.1 rose. Turnover picked up marginally to 1.47bil shares with a value of $1.37bil traded.
Wilmar International put on 17 cents to $6.67 following the release of better-than-expected 4QFY09 results on Sunday. Genting was the most active counter for the day with 133 mil shares traded and the share managed to reverse previous losses to put on 1.5 cents to close at 91 cents.
Notwithstanding the overnight rally in Wall Street, expect market to be range bound today in the absence of fresh directions. Investors are likely to stay side-lined, awaiting economic readings from the US market this week, particularly the jobs report scheduled on Friday, for indications that economic recovery is on the way.
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Mid Day March 2. Stocks consolidated after yesterday's gains.
US stocks advanced on the first trading day of March encouraged by Warren Buffet's comments that the economy was slowly getting better. Dealers pointed to M&A activities that also gave the broader market a boost. Trading on Tuesday was subdued as stocks consolidated after yesterday's gains and reacted to titan HSBC's results.`HSBC accounts for 14 per cent on the Hang Seng index' a dealer said. The STI index rose 7.48 points at 2781.54 points with some technical analysts calling for a rise to 2800-2860 points before correcting again. For every stock that rose, about 2 fell. Turnover was 795mil shares with a value of $719mil traded.
Stocks may not be tumbling in the wake of the 0.7 per cent fall in the Hang Seng index (led by HSBC's 5 per cent fall) but they are not rising either. Most traders remained cautious and are not likely to be making reckless trades; being conservative. `I think the market will remain like that, tradeable only from oversold levels but mostly in limbo and probably in a drifting mode' a dealer said.
Shares of Genting Singapore slumped 3.5 cents at 87.5 cents on 135mil shares on rumours of a cash call. `I think such rumours are the work of those who had shorted the stock earlier' a trader said. Profit taking pushed shares of Ezra, IndoAgric, Straits Asia and Noble Group 1 and 5 cents lower.
Shares of Sarin rose almost 10 per cent or 4.5 cents at 45.5 cents on rumours that it may be taken private. Financial One Corp rose 2 cents in the hopes that it has turned the corner and 2010 will be better. Dealers said there was talk the company may soon announce an update on its plans to list its unit in Taiwan. Others like Jardine C&C, Jardine Matheson, Jardine Strategic, SIA, Wilmar, DBS, C2O and NOL rose between 4 and 64 cents.
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