Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations 2012 Countdown Party

Date: 22 January 2012

Time: 9.30pm – 12.30am
Venue: Eu Tong Sen Street and New Bridge Road

Join in the party with live performances and countdown with MediaCorp artistes. Usher in the year of Dragon with firecrackers and a spectacular display of fireworks at this countdown celebration.

日期：2012年1月22日
时间：晚上9时30分至凌晨12时30分
地点：余东旋街和新桥路

参加迎春派对，和大伙儿一起观赏精彩的现场表演，然后和新传媒艺人一起倒数迎接龙年！倒数的重点庆祝活动是燃放鞭炮和壮观的烟火大汇演，在热闹的气氛中迈入新的一年。

SGX and Ong First to Promote Futures Trading Profession

Singapore Exchange (SGX) and futures broker Ong First Tradition are launching a Professional Traders Development Programme to attract and train new futures traders.

SGX said on Friday the programme will raise awareness of the profession and impart trading skills to new traders through career seminars, intensive hands-on workshops and mentorship at a new trading arcade set up by Ong First.

It added that this joint initiative will meet increasing interest in the profession.

According to the exchange, the number of SGX-registered futures traders jumped more than 20 per cent in the second half of 2011, compared with the first half. During the same period, the daily average trading volume of the MSCI Singapore futures contract rose 19 per cent, reaching a record high of 18,895 contracts.

“Professional futures trading has evolved from the open outcry system on the trading floor to the current form of electronic trading which is less visible. It is thus timely now to raise awareness of the profession and grow the community by attracting new traders,” said Ng Tee How, President of Association of Financial & Commodity Traders (Singapore).

“This is the first time a professional trading course is combined with mentorship at a trader’s arcade. It will go a long way towards supporting the training and development needs of all new futures traders and contribute to building a more vibrant derivative trading landscape in Singapore,” said Chew Sutat, SGX Executive Vice President who oversees the SGX Academy.

More information on the activities of the Professional Traders Development Programme can be found at www.sgx.com/academy.

Securities Investors Association Singapore Appoints New Chairman

Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or SIAS, Wednesday announced that it has appointed Hsieh Fu Hua its second Honorary Chairman with effect from 2 January 2012.

His first term will be for a three-year period.

Since its first Honorary Chairman, Tan Chok Kian, stepped down in September 2010, SIAS had been looking out for a candidate who is passionate for the retail investors’ cause and believes strongly in what the association stands for, it said in a statement.

SIAS noted that during his tenure as CEO of Singapore Exchange (SGX), Hsieh showed keen interest in the association.

It also found him supportive of its investor education initiatives and truly interested in the well being of the retail investor community.

In addition, Hsieh initiated and was the driving force in building a stronger relationship and communication between SGX and the retail investing community, SIAS said.

It added that Hsieh brings with him the industry knowledge and experience to help SIAS move to the next level of growth.

Singapore Exchange Withdraws Suit against China Sky

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has dropped its suit against China Sky Chemical Fibre and four of its Chinese directors in a closely watched case since late last year.

SGX’s suit sought to compel the company to comply with the exchange’s directive to appoint a special auditor under the listing rules.

While the High Court hearing was originally scheduled for Monday, SGX issued a brief statement late last night saying it has withdrawn the suit.

A separate SGX statement on Monday said the exchange’s lawyers and China Sky’s lawyer met the same day, with the latter seeking further instructions from his client in light of the company’s earlier announcement that it would “continue to communicate with SGX to resolve the impasse expediently”.

The case would have been the first of its kind for SGX, if the exchange had proceeded with the suit to enforce its listing rules after China Sky ignored its deadline to appoint a special auditor.

China Sky’s shares have been suspended from trading since November 17 last year.

“This saga has exposed structural issues that SGX may have in the sense that shareholders based in Singapore might have limited protection from the existing legal framework. This is something similar to a product that is sold without a warranty,” Tan Han Meng, a DMG & Partners analyst, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The SGX directive earlier sought to address various issues pertaining to interested party transactions between the company and the audit committee chairman, the aborted acquisition and development of land in China, and repair and maintenance costs.

SGX - Earnings Surprised Analysts +S$65mn

SGX announced its 2Q12 earnings results after markets yesterday. Despite the difficult market, SGX recorded a revenue of S$148mn and a net profit of S$65.4mn. The net profit is 7% higher than consensus and 19% higher than Macquarie Equities Research (MER) forecast.

Revenues fell
Total revenues fell 14% year-on-year (YoY) as securities revenues plummeted by 34%. This was partially offset by an 11% YoY increase in derivatives revenues, which benefited from growth in collateral-related income. The total revenue figure was 3% higher than MER's forecast, which MER had intentionally set at a conservative level.

Costs led to earnings surprise
Operating expenses fell by 9% YoY and was 11% below MER's forecast. This was mainly due to reduced variable compensation and IT related expenses, although weak market activity also played a role.

Reasonably good results
On the whole, MER thinks this was a reasonably good result. Markets have been abysmal, but management’s prudent control of operating costs helped to offset this. Annualized ROE of 43% was the highest since 2Q11, when markets were far more copacetic for the exchange business.

MER continues to prefer SGX over HKEx and Bursa on balance sheet strength and valuation. A return of positive market sentiment would allow for a re-rating, and this could occur medium term with the OECD Leading Indicators showing signs of a trough. MER sees the key downside risk now as a potential London Metal Exchange (LME) acquisition.

SGX fell 2.2% yesterday, closing at $6.10.

SGX Lists CapitaMalls Asia 10-year Retail Bonds

Singapore Exchange (SGX) Friday welcomed the listing of CapitaMalls Asia’s 10-year bonds on the Mainboard under the stock code ‘PW3Z’.

CapitaMalls Asia, one of the largest listed shopping mall developers, owners and managers in Asia by total property value of assets and geographic reach, listed S$400 million of 10-year callable bonds.

Ng Kok Siong, Chief Financial Officer of CapitaMalls Asia, said: “We would like to thank SGX for providing a sound trading platform for our bondholders to trade their bonds as and when required. In addition, the company would like to take this opportunity to register our sincere appreciation to the public for their strong endorsement of our second series of bonds. Despite the upsize to S$400 million, we regret that we were unable to fulfil all the demand. We will definitely continue to look into offering retail investors opportunities to invest in our future series of bonds.”

“CapitaMalls Asia’s return to the retail bond market underscores the market’s growing attractiveness amid sustained investor interest in fixed income products. The addition of a 10-year bond to the retail bond market provides investors easy access to a longer-term investment with price transparency,” Tng Kwee Lian, Head of Fixed Income at SGX, said.

CapitaMalls Asia Friday closed on the SGX at S$1.265, up from its previous close of S$1.215.

Singapore Exchange Launches Investor Education Portal

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has launched a new portal called ‘My Gateway’ to meet increasing investor interest for more investment knowledge and education.


It noted that last year, over 7,800 participants attended the more than 150 investor education activities organised by SGX Academy. In the second half of 2011, participation at investment seminars and professional courses grew 31 per cent and 83 per cent respectively from the first half of the year.

In a statement on Tuesday, SGX said the new portal provides one-stop shop access to market updates, video clips on investment products, information on seminars or courses that investors can sign up for, and tools such as investment or profit and loss calculators.

“We recognise that investors are hungry for information on investments and are looking for flexibility in learning. We therefore want to encourage investors to take advantage of the newly launched portal on (the) SGX website to learn about investing at their own time and pace,” said Mr Chew Sutat, SGX Executive Vice President, who oversees the Academy.

Mr David Gerald, President of Securities Investors Association (Singapore), welcomed the launch of SGX’s new portal.

“Investors should take responsibility (for) their investments. They should commit to equip themselves with the right knowledge to know – firstly, their risk appetites; secondly, the available products and finally, what investment strategies to adopt,” he said in a statement.

My Gateway can be accessed at www.sgx.com/mygateway.

SGX Securities Trading Down, Derivatives Trading Up in December

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Wednesday said that its securities turnover in December 2011 fell 41 per cent from a year ago to S$16.67 billion.

The daily average value of securities traded was 36 per cent lower from a year ago at S$794.0 million.  Also, the turnover from exchange traded funds declined 18 per cent year-on-year to S$640 million.

Total derivatives trading volume, however, rose 6 per cent to 5.1 million contracts while daily average volume increased 8 per cent to 241,783 contracts.

China A50 futures trading more than doubled to 342,825 contracts, while Nifty futures activity rose 28 per cent to 1.1 million contracts and MSCI Taiwan futures volume was 8 per cent up at 1.2 million contracts.

Meanwhile, agricultural commodity futures volume also increased 6 per cent to 17,263 contracts as participation in SICOM rubber futures continued to grow.

SGX also said that volume of OTC commodity contracts cleared was 8 per cent up at 12,369 contracts while clearing of iron ore swaps was over three times that of a year earlier at 7,453 contracts.

Since its launch in November 2010, OTC interest rate swaps cleared totalled a notional S$186.0 billion.

For fixed income, bond listing in SGX totalled S$8.3 billion, up 49 per cent year-on-year. The biggest listings were KDDI Corporation’s JPY190-billion 2015 convertible bond, Tencent Holdings’ US$600-million 2016 senior note and Hana Bank’s US$500-million 2017 note.

SGX Proposes Removal of Iceberg Order Functionality

Singapore Exchange (SGX) is consulting the public on its proposal to remove the engine-level iceberg order functionality in the securities and derivatives markets.

The iceberg order functionality is utilised primarily by investors who trade large quantities.  The functionality facilitates the execution of large orders in a manner that minimises adverse market impact by releasing the order gradually into the market.   This allows only part of the order to be displayed and available for execution at any given time.

SGX noted that its engine-level iceberg order functionality is little used by the marketplace, as similar execution functionalities are offered in the order management systems of brokers and automated execution desks to execute block trades.

As such, the continued provision and maintenance of iceberg order functionality bring little benefit to the marketplace and its removal is expected to have insignificant effect on the market, the exchange said.

It added that the removal of this order functionality will also enhance transparency in the opening and closing routines, as well as in the calculation of equilibrium price.

The consultation paper on the proposed removal of the engine-level iceberg order functionality is available on SGX’s website from Tuesday.

Market participants and members of the public can send SGX their comments and suggestions on the proposal from Tuesday until 16 January 2012.

Guardian 313 @ Somerset - Pharmacy Counter NIGHTMARE EXPERIENCE

I went to collect my AHA Facial Wash sample about 2 pm .

When reached , the pharmacy counter is empty .

Saw 2 promoters talking between themselves and approached them for assistance .

One of the promoters directed me to the cashier counter .

Atfer waiting patiently for my turn , I showed the cashier my email printout and her face went blank !

She told me that the pharmacy is closed and the promoter had misdirected me to her wrongly ...

Is she implying that I have to return the next time when hopefully the pharmacist is around so as to collect my sample ?

I suggested she contact her superior to find out where the sample is kept instead .

Mei Ching , the assistant store-manager of somerset outlet then directed me to ngee ann city outlet for collection .

She told me her outlet is out of stock and comfirmed that the ngee ann city outlet still have stock .

Quite amused that Guardian @ takashimaya and Guardian @ ngee ann city are just opposite each other in the same building !

Why make it so confusing to separate the two outlets ?

After confirming that I was at the ngee ann city outlet , I showed the pharmacist my email printout again .

Sad to say , the pharmacist told me that he did not have the sample too and directed me to his in-charge .

Joan , the retail executive of ngee ann city then comfimed that I can only collect the sample at somerset outlet as shown in the email printout ...

Joan then contact Mei Ching for liaising between the two outlets and update me that Mei Ching had found out where the sample is kept from her somerset pharmacist !

Why did Mei Ching direct me to another outlet without confirming exactly where the sample is kept ?

To my persistence , I manged to contact Amos , the retail manager for orchard area and offered my feedback .

Amos promised to contact me tomorrow afternoon by phone and email .

The ordeal I experienced finally ended about 4 pm.

Why is there no gesture of any goodwill compensation for my 2 hours of wasted time ?

Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations 2012 Official Light-Up and Opening Ceremony

Date: 1 January 2012

Time: 6.00pm – 10.00pm
Venue: New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street

Be part of the Chinatown Chinese New Year celebrations opening ceremony and official light up which will be graced by Guest-of- Honour, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This year, the big bang of real firecrackers is back again with more sparkles! Be mesmerised by the colourful display of pyrotechnics and fireworks display staged at the heart of Chinatown, enhanced by spectacular stage and street performances.

日期：2012年1月1日

时间：傍晚6时至晚上10时
地点：新桥路和余东旋街

与盛会主宾李显龙总理一同参与牛车水农历新年庆祝活动开幕典礼和亮灯仪式。今年的亮灯仪式将再度以震耳欲聋的鞭炮掀开序幕，牛车水中心也将燃放缤纷璀璨的烟火，并以精彩的舞台与街头表演助兴，让大家沉浸在歌舞升平的欢乐气氛中。