Market Outlook

It was another day for the shortists as the STI ended up in the red
again despite having witnessed some sparks during early morning. While
the index had opened up almost flat from the previous day, the effects
from the positive closing on Wall Street on Tuesday seemed to gradually
filter into our local market as the STI was pushed up to 3,072 (or a
0.75% gain) within the first hour of trading. The script that had been
seen for the week so far then repeated itself as the STI was then bashed
to an intraday low of
2,984 before recovering some 16 points during the last hour of trading.
For Wednesday, the STI lost 49.87 points or 1.64% to 3,000.03 as
investors remained jittery over the size of the potential rate cut by
the Fed. Losers outnumbered gainers to 453 to 249 while market breadth
improved slightly as 1.42bn shares that were worth some $1.75bn changed
hands. Defensive plays were the flavour of the day as StarHub increased
2.3% to $3.05 (with only three other STI-component counters registering
gains) while SMRT jumped 7 cents or 4.3% to $1.69. Look for the non-farm
payrolls report on Friday to be the major market mover for the week
after the announcement of the Fed decision.

Media Highlights
- SPC net profit soars 78.6% to record $508m in 2007
- CDLHT Q4 distributable income up 83.4%
- SingPost: New players will squeeze margins
- GuocoLand posts 26% drop in Q2 earnings
- MMP Reit posts 15.7% rise in distributable income for Q4
- Wee Hur's strong debut
- New China printing deals to double Xpress' revenue
- Citi sees good returns from global equities

Economic Highlights
- US House clears US$146b aid package
- Record drop in US 10-city home prices