Most Asia markets pare early losses ST Index closes with a 4.

3-point gain as Wall Street futures stage late recovery By Ven Sreenivasan Senior Correspondent print |email this article Topping volumes list ASIAN markets muddled through a featureless session following a selldown on Wall Street on Friday, as most market participants sat by the sidelines ahead of the US and European market openings. But a late recovery by Wall Street futures - which gives an indication of how New York markets will open - enabled most markets to pare their early losses. Also, European bourses opened in positive territory. The Straits Times Index in Singapore started out from a low of 2,970 and clawed its way to as high as 2,993 by mid-morning before closing with a 4.30-point gain at 2,992.12. But brokers said sentiment here was hostage to jitters in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng has been going through several torrid sessions. Yesterday, the Hong Kong market index plunged about 190 points in early trading, before regaining some composure to close with a net 90.4-point or 0.44 per cent loss at 20,610.64. Other Asian markets trimmed their early losses, too. In Singapore, activity was largely confined to penny stocks and "ultra-pennies" - stocks which are under 10 cents. Loss-making Digiland headed the volumes list as traders continued to place it between 0.3 cent and 0.4 cent. The stock closed at 0.4 cent on 366 million units traded. Brokers pointed out that the penny stock fever was sweeping through other regional markets as well. "We are seeing the same thing in Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong," said a seasoned trader. "People are shying away from betting on the heavyweights and are homing-in on liquid penny stocks which yield bigger bang for the buck in percentage terms on newsflows and corporate developments. It's becoming something of a casino here." But not all penny stocks were viewed simply as punting opportunities. Shares of crane specialist Sin Heng, which declared it is poised to capitalise on Myanmar's hunger for infrastructure development, were actively traded, gaining 4 cents to 28 cents on 82 million units. The company has formed a joint venture with a well-connected

Singapore-naturalised businesman of Myanmar origin to set up a joint venture to deploy its cranes to various energy and port projects in Myanmar. Among the market heavyweights which have been in the news lately, SPH edged up a cent to $3.90. Last Friday, the media and property group said it recorded an 11.6 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit to $84.1 million, and announced an interim dividend of 7 cents per share. "Group investible funds currently stand at $0.9 billion, which points to sufficient capacity for further allocation into its retail strategy ahead," noted OCBC. "Maintain 'buy' with a higher fair value estimate of $4.05." ST Engineering nudged up 1 cent to $3.20 after it said its aerospace arm had secured $540 million worth of contracts in the first quarter. This brings total new orders for the first three months to $1.5 billion, and boosts its standing order book to $12.3 billion. In the absence of new catalysts and newsflows, strategists expect the market to continue to dance to the same tunes emanating from Europe and Wall Street, with activity still largely confined to second-liners and penny stocks.