DAILY MORNING NOTE | 5 April 2023

Trade of the Day

Marco Polo Marine Ltd (SGX: 5LY)

Analyst: Zane Aw

(Current Price: S$0.046) – TECHNICAL BUY

Buy price: S$0.045; Stop loss: S$0.042; Take profit: S$0.057

Singapore shares rose on Tuesday (Apr 4), extending the previous day’s gains and taking their cue from overnight gains on Wall Street, as contagion worries over recent banking woes in US and Europe appeared to have subsided. Even so, investors’ angst over inflationary pressures continued to persist. Turnover on the local bourse stood at two billion units worth S$1.3 billion, with 350 counters up and 248 down. Gains were led by Singapore’s banking trio as well as Sembcorp Marine and Singtel.

Wall Street stocks fell Tuesday (Apr 4) as financial and industrial shares retreated amid worries over slowing growth, in a session overshadowed by the historic courtroom appearance of former president Donald Trump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.6 per cent lower at 33,402.38. The broad-based S&P 500 also shed 0.6 per cent to 4,100.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.5 per cent to 12,126.33.

SG

The manager of Sabana Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Sabana Reit) on Tuesday (Apr 4) announced that it had obtained provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for additions and alterations to its property at 1 Tuas Avenue 4. The development cost of this asset enhancement initiative (AEI) will be an estimated S$20 million and the works will be internally funded. Units of Sabana Reit closed 1.2 per cent or S$0.005 higher at S$0.44 on Tuesday, before the announcement.

At this year’s maiden state land tender for a 99-year leasehold private housing site, a plot along Lentor Gardens in the Yio Chu Kang area has drawn just one bid. Mainboard-listed GuocoLand teamed up with Hong Leong Holdings’ Intrepid Investments to place the bid of S$486.8 million or nearly S$985 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The independent auditor for Parkson Retail Asia has again raised concerns about the ability of the department store retailer to operate as a going concern. Independent auditor Foo Kon Tan noted that Parkson Retail Asia’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by S$19.8 million as at Dec 31. Together with its subsidiaries, the group’s current liabilities exceeded their current assets by S$59.3 million.

US

General Motors outsold Ford Motor in electric vehicles by nearly two-to-one in the first three months of the year as the automakers chase market leader Tesla. Ford sold 10,866 EVs in the US during the first quarter, according to a statement on Tuesday (Apr 4). That was up 41 per cent from a year ago, but was still well behind the 20,670 plug-ins GM sold in the same period. Overall, Ford’s light vehicle deliveries rose almost 10 per cent, while GM’s first-quarter sales were up 17.6 per cent.

Global demand for air cargo in February surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time in eight months, according to data released Tuesday (Apr 4) by the International Air Transport Association (Iata). Global air cargo demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTK), was 2.9 per cent higher than February 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, demand continued to show a year-on-year decline, with CTKs falling 7.5 per cent compared to February 2022.

Ford Motor posted a 10.1 per cent rise in first-quarter US auto sales on Tuesday (Apr 4), fuelled by pent-up demand for electric vehicles, SUVs and trucks amid easing supply chain disruptions. The Detroit automaker joins other global rivals in reporting a rise in sales, as the industry was able to get more of their vehicles to dealers and customers on time in the quarter.

Tesla increased shipments from its plant in Shanghai as the electric-car maker was wrapping up a record quarter of vehicle deliveries. The automaker shipped 88,869 vehicles from the factory in March, according to preliminary data released on Tuesday (Apr 4) by China’s Passenger Car Association. Tesla’s wholesales were up 19 per cent from February and 35 per cent from a year ago.

Virgin Orbit on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. after failing to secure a funding lifeline. The California-based satellite launch company lodged the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware and is looking to sell its assets.

Vacancies at US employers dropped in February to the lowest since May 2021, suggesting a cooling in labour demand in some industries but still indicative of a job market that’s too tight for the Federal Reserve. The number of available positions decreased to 9.9 million from a downwardly revised 10.6 million a month earlier, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or Jolts, showed on Tuesday (Apr 4).

Source: SGX Masnet, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, CNBC, WSJ, The Business Times, PSR

RESEARCH REPORTS

PSR Stocks Coverage

For more information, please visit:

https://www.stocksbnb.com/singapore-stocks-coverage/