(BN) U.S. Stock Futures, Euro Decline on Cyprus Turmoil; Yen Gai
ns

DJM3-112-0.797%
SPM3-15.50-0.998%
NDM3-26.75-0.959%

USM3 143-08 +1-12
TYM3 131-14 + 17+
FVM3 123-28+ + 07¾
TUM3 110-06+ + 00¼


U.S. Stock Futures, Euro Decline on Cyprus Turmoil; Yen Gains
2013-03-17 22:20:48.992 GMT


By Adam Haigh and Candice Zachariahs
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock futures declined and the
euro fell as an unprecedented levy on bank deposits in Cyprus
threatens to plunge Europe back into crisis. The yen rose
against all 16 major peers.
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures fell 1 percent. The yen
gained 0.5 percent to 94.77 per dollar and the euro declined 1.1
percent to $1.2932. Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index
lost 0.5 percent and New Zealand’s NZX Index slipped 0.7
percent.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades bowed to demands by
euro-area finance ministers to raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.5
billion) by taking a piece of every bank account in Cyprus.
Anastasiades delayed a vote on the measure in parliament until
today, a day later than planned, as he seeks more time to
convince lawmakers to back him.
“The concern is that this bailout plan was forced upon
deposit-holders, taxing them, and therefore an involuntary
support for the bail-out,” said Imre Speizer, a strategist at
Westpac Banking Corp. in Auckland. “If this is a template for
future bailouts, then that’s worrying for any of the larger
countries if they have to go down this route. It isn’t affecting
only the euro, it’s affecting risk appetite in general.”
Scenes of Cypriots lining up at cash machines raised the
specter of capital flight elsewhere and threatened to disrupt a
market calm that settled over the 17-member bloc since the
European Central Bank’s pledge in September to backstop troubled
nations’ debt. With no government in Italy, Spain in the throes
of a political scandal and Greece struggling to meet the terms
of its own bailout, more turmoil could hamper efforts to end the
crisis.

For Related News and Information:
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MARKET PULSE: Astro Malaysia, CDLHT, SembMarine

18 Mar 2013

KEY IDEA

Astro – FY13 results mostly within expectations

Summary: Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (Astro) reported FY13 revenue of MYR4265.0m, up 10.9%, and was 0.3% above our forecast. Although net profit
fell 33.6% to MYR418.0m, weighed by higher operating cost including depreciation, it was 4.7% below our forecast. Hence the results were mostly
within our forecast. Astro declared a third interim dividend of 1.5 MYR cents and a final dividend of 1.0 MYR cent, bringing the full-year post-IPO
payout to 4.0 MYR cents. Going forward, management remains relatively upbeat about its prospects, citing the expected 5-6% growth in the Malaysian
economy, a corresponding rise in income per capita and the share of entertainment expenditure. However, it notes that the B.yond conversion and
aggressive customer acquisition will impact EBITDA in FY14; hence margin could remain around 32%. But once the swap out of the B.yond is completed
in FY15, management expects to see EBITDA margins recovering back towards 36%. As such, we continue to maintain our BUY rating on the stock. Our
DCF-based fair value improves slightly from MYR2.98 to MYR3.00. (Carey Wong)

MORE REPORTS

CDL Hospitality Trusts: Competition to increase

Summary: We believe that CDLHT’s Singapore hotels are best classified as being in the Mid-tier/Upscale range, because their FY12 RevPAR was S$211,
close to the mean of S$264 and S$171, which are the RevPAR averages for Singapore Upscale and Mid-tier hotels respectively. As detailed in our
hospitality sector report dated 5 Mar 2013, we project that for 2013-2015, the Economy, Mid-tier and Upscale/Luxury categories will grow +5.9% p.a.,
+8.5% p.a. and +4.4% p.a. respectively. As a group, the Mid-tier/Upscale/Luxury segment will grow 5.8% p.a., the same rate that the overall supply
will grow. This rate is lower than the projected room demand of 5.4% p.a. over the same period, indicating that competition is likely to intensify
in the segments that CDLHT is represented in. Adjusting our assumptions and removing the 10% discount to RNAV to better reflect the worth of CDLHT’s
hotel properties, we are raising our fair value from S$1.93 to S$2.11; but maintain a HOLD rating since CDLHT is trading near our fair value. (
Sarah Ong)

Sembcorp Marine: Good demand from Mexico; secures two more jack-ups

Summary: Sembcorp Marine (SMM) announced this morning that its subsidiary, PPL Shipyard, has secured orders worth US$417m for the construction of
two jack-up rigs from Mexican-based Integradora de Servicios Petroleros Oro Negro (Oro Negro). Scheduled for delivery at end-4Q14 and end-1Q15, the
high-spec rigs will be built based on PPL’s proprietary Pacific Class 400 design. Oro Negro is a repeat customer – it ordered two similar jack-up
rigs from SMM in Dec last year at a price of US$217m per unit. The strong demand coming from Mexico is within our expectations, as PEMEX plans
annual capital expenditures of ~US$30b till 2019 to stem the country’s declining oil production. We see SMM as one of the beneficiaries of these
developments. Maintain BUY with S$5.84 fair value estimate on SMM. (Low Pei Han)


For more information on the above, visit www.ocbcresearch.comfor the detailed report.



NEWS HEADLINES

- US stocks retreated on Friday, ending the longest advance by the Dow Jones in more than 16 years and containing the S&P 500 just as it neared its
record close.

- Popular Holdings' 3QFY13 net profit attributable to owners slipped 4% YoY to S$11.7m. Turnover also fell 8% to S$152.8m.

- Boustead Singapore said it will enter the solar power market in Japan with the acquisition of shares in an industry player for S$73k.

- Singapore Airlines said its Feb passenger load factor grew to 78.2% from 76.1% in Feb 2012. Systemwide, passenger traffic grew 5.1%, while
capacity grew by 2.4%.

- Retail sales fell 2% YoY in Jan 2013, partially cushioned by stronger sales of motor vehicles. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales slipped a
steeper 4.9%.