SGX Stock Recommendations

MARKET UPDATES :

• THE Singapore economy grew a weaker-than-expected 1.5 per cent year-on-year in Q4 2014, slowing from Q3′s 2.8 per cent expansion as the manufacturing sector shrank in the final quarter.The median forecast of six economists polled by Bloomberg before the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) released advance GDP (gross domestic product) estimates on Friday morning was for Q4 growth of 2.2 per cent.

• ADVANCE estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday morning show that Singapore’s economy grew a poorer-than-expected 1.5 per cent year on year in the final quarter of 2014.This meant 2.8 per cent growth for the whole of 2014, slower than 2013′s 3.9 per cent. Here’s what private-sector economists had to say.

• PRIVATE home prices fell one per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014 over the previous quarter, higher than the 0.7 per cent decline in Q3 2014, based on the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) flash estimates released on Friday.This marks the fifth consecutive quarter-on-quarter drop in URA’s widely watched private home price index.For the whole of last year, the index eased 4 per cent – contrasting with a 1.1 per cent rise in 2013.

• SINGAPORE shares end higher on Friday. The Straits Times Index gained 5.44 points to 3,370.59.Some 1.07 billion shares, valued at S$556.9 million were traded. Gainers numbered 279 while losers numbered 154.

• A Libyan-registered oil tanker, Aiyarmouk, on Friday collided with a Singapore-registered bulk carrier, Sinar Kapuas, in Singapore waters, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said. The collision happened about 11 nautical miles north-east of Pedra Branca. The MPA received the report at 6am, Singapore time.The two vessels involved in the collision are currently anchored and in stable condition. There is no report of injury, and traffic in the port and the Strait of Singapore remains unaffected.

• KEPPEL AmFELS LLC, a US-based subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has won a contract valued at over US$100 million to build one of the world’s largest land drilling rigs for a major operator.Scheduled for delivery in mid-2016, Keppel AmFELS will be undertaking the engineering, procurement and construction of the rig.

Forex Market Update

The euro fell to its lowest level since March 2006 in early Asia trading Monday amid ongoing speculation the European Central Bank will soon begin a program of quantitative easing to limit deflation risks, while growing uncertainty over Greece's future in the eurozone also weighed on confidence.

Traders said there were no new triggers for the selling, which saw the euro drop to $1.1864, having earlier breached the psychologically key $1.20 level.

A report in Saturday's edition of German news magazine Der Spiegel cited unnamed sources saying the German government is confident the eurozone would cope with a Greek exit if it was needed.

AirAsia Market News Update

Indonesia sent divers into the water on Sunday to examine wreckage from AirAsia Flight 8501, but operations slowed overall, with the weather allowing divers to enter the water only briefly.

A week after the Airbus A320 crashed into the Java Sea with 162 people aboard, Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency said Sunday that sonar imaging revealed a fifth large object in a search area off the southwest coast of Borneo, measuring nearly 10 meters (about 32 feet) in length. The agency said Saturday that it had found four main parts of the jetliner, with the largest measuring about 18 meters, on the seafloor. Divers haven’t made contact with that wreckage.

A total of 34 bodies had been recovered as of Sunday evening, and all had been sent to Surabaya, a port city on Java island where the flight originated, Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta. But operations slowed overall on Sunday, with the weather allowing divers to enter the water only briefly.