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The Business Times Online Edition - Singapore

Total news: 291
Last news: 16 hours 25 minutes ago

A PROMINENT businessman recently said of the US$700 billion US Treasury bailout plan that it didnt mark the beginning of the end, but rather the end of the beginning. - [Read more]

ANOTHER day, another pounding. The selling continued with renewed ferocity yesterday, supposedly brought on by worries about the coming slowdown that led to Wall Street and Europe collapsing on Wednesday, but more likely simply because of fund redemptions, hedge fund unwinding and a general loss of faith in equities. - [Read more]

YESTERDAYS column suggested that market players seemed inclined to sell into strength, given the many uncertainties surrounding the coordinated government bailout of US and European banks and the magnitude of the coming slowdown. - [Read more]

YOU could say investors appetites for risky assets returned but it would be more accurate to say greed replaced fear as the dominant emotion in the local stock market yesterday, as Mondays relief rally in Europe and Wall Street spilled over here. This drove the Straits Times Index up 51.96 points to 2,128.31, bringing its two-day gain to 180 points or 9.2 per cent. - [Read more]

STOCKS here jumped yesterday amid a broader rebound in Asian equities, as governments worldwide finally seemed to be coming to grips with the financial crisis. - [Read more]

HOW does one go about pricing in a recession? Or to be more specific, how should one price in an impending slowdown whose magnitude is completely unknown as the source is a global crisis that has shot confidence in stocks worldwide to bits? - [Read more]

EXACTLY one year ago to the day on Oct 11, 2007, the Straits Times Index (STI) closed at an all-time high of 3,831, but those heady days are now long-forgotten. After an unforgettable week during which it suffered mind-numbing selling pressure, the STI yesterday crashed through the 2,000 level. It now stands at 1,948.33, a staggering loss of 349 points or 15 per cent in one week that has taken it to its lowest level in four years. For the year the STI is down 44 per cent, while its loss from its all-time high is 49 per cent. - [Read more]

AFTER crashing 526 points or 21 per cent in 13 trading sessions since closing at 2,551 on Sept 19, the Straits Times Index (STI) yesterday enjoyed a bounce of 69.1 points to 2,102.71, thanks to hopes that Wall Street and Europe might enjoy some respite from the recent bouts of selling on Thursday. - [Read more]

THE bottom continued to fall out of the local stock market yesterday as Wall Streets Tuesday plunge reverberated around the region. With Hong Kong crashing 8 per cent and Japan 9 per cent, the Straits Times Index (STI) stood little chance of holding up - the only question being when, not if, the 2,000 level would be breached. - [Read more]

A SMALL window of opportunity opened for investors to sell into strength yesterday when a short-covering bounce added 53 points to the Straits Times Index, taking it to an intraday high of 2,230. The window, however, was slammed shut around 4 pm once the US futures market went into sharp reversal and Europe weakened, both occurences dragging the STI down to 2,177.55 for a nett gain of just 9.23 points on the day. - [Read more]

WHO will bail out the bailout if the bailout fails? Will European banks be next in line to be saved? - [Read more]

THEY say that markets are always trying to tell you something - not necessarily the truth, but something. So what does their recent behaviour tell us? - [Read more]

EVERY so often, investors get a grim reminder of the stockmarket maxim buy in anticipation, sell on news. And this week was just such an instance. - [Read more]

WILL the announcement that the US Senate has approved the Treasurys US$700 billion banking assets rescue fund (BARF) send Wall Street up or down on Thursday? Or, has the US market already bought in advance of BARFs approval and, as a result, will it sell on news? - [Read more]

HOPES that the US Treasury and Federal Reserve will revive their failed US$700 billion bailout plan helped support stocks yesterday, limiting the Straits Times Index to a 2.43-point net loss at 2,358.91 - after it looked set to collapse earlier when it plunged more than 120 points to 2,239. - [Read more]

LAST weeks column advised investors to sell into strength because there was every likelihood that the Straits Times Index (STI), having come close to falling below 2,300 on Sept 18, would surely retest that level again in the near future. - [Read more]

THIS time last week the Straits Times Index (STI) had just risen 139 points to 2,559, apparently on hopes that Ben (Bernanke) and Hank (Paulson) could stitch together an acceptable bailout plan to buy toxic US bank assets. - [Read more]

NOW that all the shorts have been forced to cover their positions and that short-selling is outlawed in the US, Europe and many Asian countries, does this mean that the current selling is genuine in the sense that the sellers really dont want to own stocks, are looking to exit and are not the dreaded short-sellers? - [Read more]

THE Straits Times Index (STI) yesterday reverted to its normal pattern of tracking Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index until 4pm, followed by Europe and the US futures market for the rest of the session. - [Read more]

CAN naked short-selling or even covered short-selling be reasonably said to be causing the markets decline? No, at least not according to yesterdays market activity - despite the Singapore Exchange (SGX) acting to deter naked short-selling, the Straits Times Index still collapsed by 67.62 points or 2.7 per cent to 2,476.51. - [Read more]