STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Most SE Asia cos earnings beat last quarter - Morgan Stanley

Majority of Southeast Asian companies tracked by MSCI have

reported better-than-expected results for the quarter ended

June, with Malaysia and Philippines leading the way, Morgan

Stanley said.

Among the large sectors, MSCI Financials stands out, beating

consensus earnings estimates by 1390 basis points and across

most Asian markets, the bank said in a report.

It remains overweight on Indonesian healthcare and financial

firms, as well as Thai and Singapore consumer staples. However,

it is underweight on Singapore banks, Indonesia energy and

materials stocks and Thai utilities.

Thailand and Philippines are among the best performing

markets worldwide so far this year, up 22 percent and 19 percent

respectively.

Kalbe Farma Tbk is one of Morgan Stanley's most

preferred picks amongst Indonesian staples, due to its

attractive exposure to under-penetrated categories of healthcare

and nutrition. The brokerage has an 'overweight' rating on the

stock with a target price of 4,350 ruppiah.

In Singapore, Morgan Stanley prefers commodity firm Olam

International Ltd as it expects a strong rebound in

its earnings in 2013.

Food segment earnings, which make up about 80 percent of

Olam's portfolio, are resilient and growing despite weak

macroeconomic conditions, the bank said. It has an 'overweight'

rating and a target price of S$2.50 for Olam.

1409 (0609 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore;

charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)

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13:23 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Shares flat at midday; Wilmar,

NOL down

Singapore shares were flat at midday, as investors were

cautious ahead of major events this week such as a German

Constitutional Court ruling on the euro zone's bailout funds and

a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

Higher beta cyclical stocks such as palm oil firm Wilmar

International Ltd and container shipper Neptune Orient

Lines Ltd (NOL) were among the biggest losers on the

benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) due to heightened

risk aversion.

At midday, the STI was up 1.28 points, or 0.04 percent at

3,010.00 points, while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent.

Wilmar dropped 1.3 percent to S$3.01, while NOL dropped 1.4

percent to S$1.085. However, shipbuilder COSCO Corp (Singapore)

Ltd gained as much as 2.1 percent after it said it had

won a $200-million contract to build a semi-submersible rig.

CIMB Research said it remains sceptical about COSCO's

ability to execute offshore projects profitably, despite winning

$1.4 billion worth of them so far this year.

"Risks include margin deterioration, execution delays and

order cancellations by customers. Provisions for cost overruns

could remain the norm for another few quarters," CIMB said in a

report.

1310 (0510 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore;

charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)

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11:31 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-AmFraser starts Cache Logistics

with buy

AmFraser initiated the coverage of Cache Logistics Trust

with a 'buy' rating and a target price of S$1.29 as it

expects the trust to benefit from Singapore's development as a

global logistics centre.

Units of Cache, which owns warehouses, were down 0.4 percent

at S$1.15, but have jumped 21 percent since the start of the

year, compared to the FT ST Real Estate Investment Trust's

27 percent rise.

Cache has built-in rental escalation rates of 1.5-2.5

percent and the long-tern nature of its master lease agreements

will support earnings in the face of weak economic conditions,

AmFraser said.

The brokerage noted that Cache has an attractive forward

yield of 7-7.3 percent for 2012-2013. Its sponsor CWT Ltd

also provides the trust with a strong pipeline of

local and foreign acquisition assets, with rights of first

refusal on 13 properties.

1120 (0320 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore;

charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)

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10:58 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Tiger Airways up on passenger

growth

Budget carrier Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd rose as

much as 2.8 percent in a flat market after it posted stronger

growth in passengers it carried last month and higher load

factor.

Tiger said it carried 556,000 passengers in August, up 62

percent from a year ago. It reported a passenger load factor of

84 percent, higher than 77 percent last year.

Tiger's Singapore operations carried 19 percent more

passengers in August compared to a year earlier, due to an

expanded capacity base. Its Australian operations also continued

to show encouraging signs, said DBS Vickers in a report.

"We continue to believe that the carrier will move steadily

towards profitability and we expect the group as a whole to be

profitable by the last quarter of this year," said DBS.

The budge carrier reported in July a loss of S$13.7 million

for the first quarter, smaller than a loss of S$20.6 million a

year ago.

1039 (0239 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore;

charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)

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10:20 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-Phillip cuts Hu An Cable target

price

Phillip Securities cut its target price for Hu An Cable

Holdings Ltd to S$0.190 from S$0.275 and kept its

'buy' rating, citing smaller expected revenue and lower copper

prices.

Shares of Hu An were unchanged at S$0.134. They have gained

18.6 percent since the start of the year, compared with the FT

ST Industrials Index's 16.6 percent rise.

Hu An had said its net profit for the first half of the year

fell 37.8 percent from a year ago to 38.7 million yuan.

The company underperformed most of its peers in terms of

revenue growth and net profit margin, Phillip said in a report.

The brokerage cut its forecast revenue for the second half

of the year and first quarter of 2013 by 25 percent, due to

lower-than-expected volumes for its cable and wire business in

the second quarter.

1007 (0207 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore;

charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-news-singapore-most-se-asia-cos-earnings-062133956--sector.html

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