Pre-Market Open Commentary for 05 March 2010
DJIA: 10444.14 +47.38
Nasdaq Composite: 2292.31 +11.63
Following a volatile session, US stocks staged gains on the back of upbeat retail sales and jobs report. The number of new claims for unemployment fell to 469,000 last week, better-than-expectations of a fall to 470,000, from 498,000 the previous week while continuing claims also showed improvement, falling to 4.5 mil, against expectations of a decline to 4.6 mil, from a revised 4.634 mil in the previous week. Despite massive snow storms, retail sales also picked up pace, boosting retail sales by 4% in February, the sixth consecutive month of increase and in particular, Abercrombie & Fitch reported same-store sales increase of 5%, well ahead of expectations of a sales decline of 6%.
However, the housing report did not fair well with January pending home sales index plunging 7.6%, far worse-than-expectations of a rise of 1%, following a revised 0.8% rise in December. Factory orders also came in shy of forecasts, gaining 1.7% in January, against expectations of a 1.8% rise, from a revised 1.5% increase in December.
All the major indices ended higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.46% while S&P 500 added 0.37% to 1,122.97. Nasdaq composite climbed 0.51%.
The key economic report due on Friday is the government employment report. The payroll number is expected to show that employers cut 65,000 jobs in February, after cutting 20,000 jobs in the previous month. A separate survey is expected to show that unemployment rate has risen to 9.8%, from 9.7% in the previous month.
US light crude oil for April delivery fell US$0.66 to settle at US$80.21 a barrel.
In Singapore today:
The regional markets slipped on Thursday following a 2.4% plunge in the volatile Shanghai bourse, led by concerns over further monetary tightening measures by the central government. The Hang Seng fell 1.44% while Nikkei lost 1.05% and Taiex Index fell 0.8%. Concerns over a weak US jobs data due on Thursday due to heavy snow storm last month also kept investors on the sidelines. The STI lost 14.09 points to 2768.7. For every stock that gained, 2.3 fell. Uncertainties in the market have led investors to avoid the market and as a result turnover was thin with1.2bil shares with a value of $1.18bil traded.
Shares of Midas erupted and jumped to a high of $1.08 on confirmation that it plans to seek a dual listing in Hong Kong. The company will offer up to 340mil shares in a global offering for the purpose of a secondary listing in Hong Kong. The stock settled 3 cents up at $1.04 on 28mil shares. Epure added 0.5 cents at 86.5 cents helped by a buy report from a local broker with a target of $1.10.
Expect the local bourse to trade stronger taking cues from the positive overnight close on Wall Street following the upbeat US jobs reports on Thursday, which provided investors comfort that the pace of jobs cut is slowing as the labour market starts to stabilize and the highly-anticipated US government employment report due tonight will not spring negative surprises.
----
Mid Day March 5. Asian markets generally higher on Wall Street's positive lead.
Asian markets were generally higher on Wall Street's positive lead amid talks of short covering. The STI index rose 15.78 points at 2784.48 points with some traders taking smallish bets that the US non-farm payrolls numbers could turn out positive. For every stock that fell, 2 rose. Turnover was 566mil shares with a value of $551mil traded.
Shares of Genting Singapore rose 2.5 cents at 87 cents after it was named as a new inclusion into the FTSE Asia-Ex Japan (all World) index. `I don't think there is a major impact as Genting is a widely owned stock. The key lies in the short covering' a dealer said. Biosensors bounced 2.5 cents at 86 cents after a foreign broker reiterated its buy call with a price target of $1.23. CWT jumped 6.5 cents at 97.5 cents on anticipation of the listing of its Cache Logistics trust unit. Dealers are betting that a generous special dividend would be forthcoming. Shares of Best World rose 2.5 cents at 33 cents on speculations that company may make an announcement of an acqusition. The company has a war chest of about $36mil. Ascott REITs rose 1 cents at $1.22, expanding gains from yesterday on rumours that company may soon make an announcement about an asset sale.
On the balance, shares of UOB, Hotel Royal, OUE, HPL, DBS, Keppel Land and Olam eased between 1 and 10 cents.
0 comments:
Post a Comment