SGX Stock Recommendations

MARKET UPDATES :

• SINGAPORE share prices opened up on Tuesday with the Straits Times Index up 24.47 points to 3,330.11. Volume was 74.2 million shares worth S$87.5 million. Gainers outnumbered losers 101 to 46.

• SINGAPORE shares ended higher on Tuesday with the Straits Times Index gaining 16.68 points to 3,322.32. Some 1.18 billion shares, valued at S$1.07 billion were traded. Gainers numbered 219 while losers numbered 171.

• THE oil market is now bracing itself for higher volatility as prices struggle to find a floor in the near term, with warnings of yet further downside. Prices for Brent crude oil continued to slide on Monday, following an already sharp sell-off on Friday, hitting a new four-year low of US$67.53 a barrel before rebounding later in the day.

• SINGAPORE Exchange (SGX) has hired Trading Screen to create its over-the-counter Asian bond trading platform, Trading Screen announced on Tuesday. In a statement, SGX president Muthukrishnan Ramaswami said: “Continuing with our tradition of innovation, we were keen to invest in technology that would equip the region with a versatile platform addressing the peculiarities of bond trading within the Asian markets.

• The founders of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd were among a consortium of investors who purchased stakes in Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd in a HK$36.5 billion (US$4.7 billion) deal on Sunday, in one of the largest Hong Kong share offerings of the year.

Forex Market Update

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index reached its highest level since March 2009 Tuesday as global economic data highlighted the increasing disparity between growth in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The dollar Index DXY, -0.03% a measure of the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.76% to 88.6150.

It EURUSD, +0.02%  traded at $1.2360, compared to $1.2475 Monday.

The dollar USDRUB, +0.04% traded as high as 54.1820 rubles Tuesday, compared to 51.1995 rubles late Monday.

The pound GBPUSD, +0.06%  traded at $1.5653 Tuesday, compared to $1.5737 late Monday.

The dollar USDJPY, -0.02%  hit a fresh seven-year high against the yen Tuesday, reversing a week of losses to trade at 119.21 yen, compared to 118.27 yen late Monday.

S&P Market News Update

U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday, led by energy stocks as they shrugged off a decline in crude oil futures to rally back from their prior-day drubbing.

The S&P 500 SPX, +0.64% gained 13.11 points, or 0.6%, to 2,066.55, with the health-care sector stocks joining energy to lead gains. Financials sector stocks also rallied, while telecoms, the only laggard on Tuesday, sold off. It was the best gain for the benchmark index since Oct 31.