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Singapore stock market and companies daily report (SGX Commodity Unit) (March 03, 2010)

Contributed by Shares Investment

By Shares Investment

Bottom Drawing Near For Singapore Office Space
The healthy upswing in office leasing deals that started around July last year has persuaded some property consultants that rents for the best quality space in Singapore’s financial district could be close to their bottom and poised to perk up, a Business Times report said. For instance, the Infocomm Development Authority is understood to have inked a lease for about the last 160k sqf available at Mapletree Business City on Pasir Panjang Road, making its total 436k sqf net lettable space now fully leased.
Market observers say that the market is now starting to move beyond replacement demand to actual expansion or new demand. ‘We’re seeing quite a few law firms from Europe coming to Singapore as well as existing law firms in Singapore expanding,’ says Jones Lang LaSalle regional director and head of markets Chris Archibold.
‘Insurance companies are starting to look at headcount growth of about 5% this year followed by a further 5-10% per annum for the next few years. Banks are boosting their headcount, not just for private banking but across the board. We’re seeing a number of them bringing high-end back-office support functions again to Singapore,’ he added.

SGX Commodity Unit Secures New Clearing Licence
The Singapore Commodity Exchange (Sicom), a unit of the Singapore Exchange, has secured a licence to operate a Commodity Market and Clearing House under the Commodity Trading Act (CTRA), giving it room to roll out new commodity categories. This licence will allow SCE to introduce new commodity categories, such as contract for differences (CFDs), forwards and leveraged commodity contracts which are regulated under the CTA. The product features of these new contracts differ from futures contracts, as they closely mirror products traded in the over-the-counter (OTC) space. With the new licence, Sicom is able to bring such products into the exchange space. It is understood that Sicom is the only exchange that has obtained this licence from IE Singapore.

6 Companies Added To Watch-List
6 companies have been added to the Singapore Exchange’s watch-list today for possible future delisting – Creative Master Bermuda, AEM Hldgs, Sinobest Tech Hldgs, Lankom Electronics, JEL Corporations Hldgs, and Plastoform Hldgs – taking the total number of firms on the watch-list to 23. 6 others that are already on the watch-list were served notifications of delisting yesterday: ASA Group Hldgs, Chinasing Invs Hldgs, Chuan Soon Huat Industrial Group, Fastech Synergy, General Magnetics, and Ionics EMS. Another two companies on the watch-list, RH Petrogas and Unified Communications Hldgs, have been granted a 12-month extension to improve their financial performance and to meet the requirements to exit from the watch-list.
Under SGX rules, companies are placed on the watch-list if they suffer pre-tax losses for three straight years and have an average daily market capitalisation of less than $40m over 120 days. Once on the watch-list, companies that do not satisfy either the profit requirement or the market capitalisation requirement face delisting.