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STI to cross 3000 boosted by long-term investors
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ozone2002
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29-Jan-2009 09:17
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STI didn't chiong like DOW last nite.. | ||||
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ticklish8
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29-Jan-2009 08:59
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Shanmugam Interview With Bloomberg Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) – Singapore, whose state-owned funds invested about $24 billion in UBS AG, Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. in the past 14 months, said the worst of the credit crunch is yet to come. The world’s biggest banks still have toxic assets on their balance sheets, which are clogging up their ability to lend, Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday. The finance ministry oversees Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and Temasek Holdings Pte, each managing more than $100 billion. Banks are still focusing on replenishing capital “and estimates of the extent of bad assets on their books are still on the upswing,” he said. “We haven’t seen the worst yet.” Bank losses worldwide from U.S.-originated bad assets may reach $2.2 trillion, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday, more than the $1.4 trillion it predicted in October. U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration and federal regulators are considering setting up a “bad bank” that would absorb illiquid assets from otherwise healthy financial firms. Governments across Europe have injected capital into banks to ensure that lending to companies and consumers doesn’t freeze up. European Union regulators yesterday approved France’s plan to increase its funding for recapitalization of banks including BNP Paribas SA and Societe Generale SA to 11 billion euros ($14.5 billion), from an initial proposal for 10.5 billion euros. Ireland’s government last month said it would invest 2 billion euros in Allied Irish and Bank of Ireland, the country’s biggest lenders. ‘Foot the Bill’ “It’s right that governments are focusing on recapitalization in the West and they’re trying their best to incentivize new lending,” Shanmugaratnam said. “It’s too early to say how successful this will be. Governments have to take more risk, and that means taxpayers have to be willing to foot part of the bill.” The IMF report released yesterday signaled that writedowns and losses at banks totaling $1.1 trillion so far are only half of what’s to come. Losses on that scale would leave banks needing at least $500 billion in fresh capital to restore confidence in their balance sheets, the fund said. Singapore’s leaders have defended the performance of the city’s state-owned investment companies after a plunge in the value of their stakes in Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and other global banks. GIC, which manages the country’s reserves, invested about $18 billion in UBS and Citigroup since December 2007. Temasek, which has a $130 billion portfolio, increased investments in Merrill Lynch and Barclays Plc as the credit market collapsed in 2007 and 2008. ‘Well Diversified’ Temasek was the biggest shareholder in Merrill Lynch before the securities firm was taken over by Bank of America Corp. It is also the largest shareholder of banks including London-based Standard Chartered Plc and Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd., and has holdings in India’s ICICI Bank and other lenders in Indonesia, South Korea and Pakistan. Temasek and GIC remain “well diversified” enough in their portfolios to offer the long-term returns the government seeks, Shanmugaratnam said. “We would be very worried if global banks comprise a large proportion of the portfolios of GIC or Temasek, or for that matter, any of the highly vulnerable industries globally,” the minister said. “But these are diversified portfolios.” Performed ‘Credibly’ Temasek and GIC have performed “credibly by international standards,” he said. Temasek had an average 18 percent annual return on investment since its inception in 1974. GIC said in September that annual returns in the past 20 years averaged 7.8 percent in U.S. dollar terms, compared with about 6 percent for the MSCI World Index. GIC last year also said it’s boosting investments in emerging markets, private equity and other asset classes to raise returns after cutting back stocks and holdings in developed nations. “I’m comfortable with the actions both Temasek and GIC have taken early in this crisis to reduce risk, to move into more liquid asset allocation and to prepare for opportunities in this downturn,” Shanmugaratnam said. “We’ve got to make sure we maintain that record of prudent investments for the portfolio as a whole, diversifying risks, and being prepared for crises from time to time.” For Related News and Information: Stories on Temasek investments: TMSK SP Equity TCNI TNM GO Stories on Southeast Asia: TOP SAS GO Stories on sovereign wealth funds: NI SWF BN GO –With reporting by Anand Menon in Singapore and Ambika Behal in London. Editors: Russell Ward, Victoria Batchelor To contact the reporters on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at +65-6212-1102 or sadam2@bloomberg.net; Haslinda Amin in Singapore at +65-6212-1302 or hamin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Tweed at +81-3-3201-2494 or dtwe |
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ticklish8
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29-Jan-2009 08:37
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STI rallies on hopes of Wall St gains But the rise, in anticipation of more US govt bailouts, could eventually prove to be yet another bear trap/rally By R SIVANITHY SENIOR CORRESPONDENT AFTER dropping 240 points, or 12.4 per cent, since closing at 1,924 on Jan 5, the Straits Times Index yesterday bounced 80.85 points to 1,766.08, in anticipation of more US bailout news that traders hoped would lift Wall Street. The closure of Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year meant low volume and narrowly-focused activity, however, and given the low volume, the possibility that the bounce will eventually prove to be yet another bear trap/rally could not be ruled out. Excluding foreign currency issues, only 645 million units worth $777.6 million were traded. The rise was clearly in anticipation of gains on Wall Street later yesterday - the May futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 150 points at 5pm local time. However, only 34 contracts were traded at that time. 'Other than Wall Street, people are also positioning themselves for Hong Kong to play catch-up with the rest of the region,' said a dealer. The Hong Kong market reopens today after a three-day break. Among the analyst reports of interest was a UOB-Kay Hian 'overweight' on residential property. 'The latest URA statistics indicate a deferment of 3,600 units of supply coming onstream between 2009 and end-2011...this brings the units deferred for the full year to 16,785 units.' The broker said this deferment, together with low interest rates and strong corporate and household balance sheets, are supportive of the sector. 'We believe the market has over-discounted the negative prospects for the sector by factoring in a 70 per cent fall in residential prices,' said UOB-Kay Hian. RBS, however, recommended an 'underweight' on the sector. 'Private residential primary deals fell 72 per cent year-on-year to an unprecedented 4,264 units in 2008. Property values fell 5-6 per cent quarter-on-quarter across all segments in 4Q08. Oversupply of commercial properties look set to continue in 2009-10.' Citi Investment Research said: 'We remain extremely cautious on the office sector, following weak 4Q08 datapoints. We prefer Reits over developers given the relative stability of cash flows as well as high dividend yields.' CapitaLand managed a 13-cent rise to $2.49. City Developments added 42 cents to $5.93 and Keppel Land also rose, by three cents to $1.48. UBS Investment Research in a Jan 23 report maintained a 'neutral' rating on Keppel Land. 'KepLand expects 2009 to be challenging with slow residential sales and will embark on a review to trim costs and phase out projects...our 2009E RNAV (revalued net asset value) of $4.50 per share assumes 53 per cent and 42 per cent decline in Singapore prime office and residential prices respectively,' it said. Elsewhere, CIMB maintained an 'overweight' on the transport sector. 'We continue to like the public transportation sector for its relative defensiveness amid a tough recession, given that people would still need to move about in the most affordable way.' It recommended an 'outperform' on Comfort Delgro and SMRT. In a Jan 23 US Strategy Focus, Citi noted that volatility has declined from record levels but still remains high by historical standards. 'While the volatility index (VIX) has come in from its Nov 20 high of 80.86, it is still more than 2x its average since 1990 with the potential to ease further should economic conditions stabilise at lower levels. Investors seem to require some sense of diminishing bad news rather than a slew of good news for the VIX to back further, in our opinion,' said Citi's US strategist Tobias Levkovich who added that a drop in volatility would be good for stocks | ||||
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ticklish8
Senior |
29-Jan-2009 08:34
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Good time to take profit from the table. Dont know how long it will last. I remember the 2 January rally, the peak after the market rally starting end Dec. When everybody start to be bullish, time to get out.... just my 2 cents opinion.
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jackjames
Elite |
29-Jan-2009 08:18
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but ooouch for Malaysian saver... Time Deposit rates reduced all time low to 2.5% ! never see the rate so low before! This is to excite internal spending ? like Japan exercise 0% interest in the bank to encourage people to invest... haiih... When I was young, just 10 years ago, the time deposit rate is like 8% ! and my youth Wawasan 2020 funds giving out 11% percents, I think this year might drop to 6-7%... It is time to invest big man... SPH up so fast to 2.77 .... haih.. up too fast lei... and, my citibank, heeee.... wait until I hug a big red packet and share la.. my cost averaging works ... |
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scotty
Senior |
29-Jan-2009 07:02
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Today STI will go up another 50 points at least! US markets very bullish! | ||||
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moneytalk.sg
Member |
29-Jan-2009 01:05
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Singaporegal, you better don't go on any holidays from now :D
Blogging at moneytalk.sg on the stock market, ETF and anything to do with money.
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AK_Francis
Supreme |
29-Jan-2009 00:40
Yells: "Happy go lucky, cheers." |
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Wah, thats encouraging. AK will sell in strength on all my penny stock liao. Tks for d advice.
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knightbridge
Veteran |
29-Jan-2009 00:31
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First sign of recovery is here. US housing sales is up, as rental folks are finding it cheaper to buy than rent.. Dont worry about all the job cuts every day u see in the paper, these are making the big companies stronger with all the excess fats over many good years. So hard for US companies to retrench people with all the legal protection, the recession makes it alot easlier for some healthy companies to get into shape without much compensation. |
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iPunter
Supreme |
28-Jan-2009 23:41
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A rise on low volume can be followed in later days by rise in high volume when the big boys catch up with the rise... Thus sustaining the initial rise with low volume...  |
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winsontkl
Elite |
28-Jan-2009 22:18
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Singaporegal is great to know when to enter and exit the market .... still got a lot to learn from her... | ||||
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singaporegal
Supreme |
28-Jan-2009 22:16
Yells: "Female TA nut" |
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Hahaha... just coincidence lah... But then again, I was away in Europe in late September when the Dow crashed 777 points ! :) I'm not on holiday now. Don't worry... I usually alert you all when I go away. |
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idesa168
Elite |
28-Jan-2009 22:14
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Singaporegal, I heard that whenever you went on holiday, the mkt will plumet. Are you on holiday now! If you are, then there is no need to look at the volume and the gain in today's trading...hahaha!
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winsontkl
Elite |
28-Jan-2009 21:53
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Ya look at the volume....and the drastic jumped.....
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singaporegal
Supreme |
28-Jan-2009 21:51
Yells: "Female TA nut" |
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Its definitely not sustainable. Take this opportunity to sell onto strength.
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trader88.sg
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28-Jan-2009 18:50
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Worry not. Money is still within your family! 
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SupremeA
Veteran |
28-Jan-2009 18:14
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Hmm ok.. o well, i didn't go in today so I don't really care either way haha. Lets watch and see how it turns out :) | ||||
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idesa168
Elite |
28-Jan-2009 18:12
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I think that might happen again. Not for political reason but I just feel that Obama has great support from the general public (middle and low income) but not sure about the higher income group. His policy will greatly benefit the general public but not sure it's also the same for the rich. It's this group of people who will control the bigger part of the mkt and the big chunk of them are the congressmen.
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SupremeA
Veteran |
28-Jan-2009 18:03
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Haha don't think Congress dare to play punk again. They did tt quite a few times to bush but now must give obama face
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idesa168
Elite |
28-Jan-2009 17:53
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STI closed with 80pts gain when DJ futures was 165pts. So if DJ closes tonight anything below that will see STI tomolo vomit back. And if the congressmen fail to pass the stimulus, god bless those that took position today. Might be in for a rude shock in the morning. Good Luck folks! | ||||
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