Investor sentiment at a all time low in Singapore

[Watchman]

Oct 19, 2010
Investor sentiment all time low
By Aaron Low

About 52 per cent of respondents in the survey believed their share investments will rise, compared with 46 per cent three months ago. -- ST PHOTO: BRYAN VAN DER BEEK


INVESTORS in Singapore are betting that the red-hot stock market will keep rising but they believe prospects for the property market have dimmed, a new survey said.

It found also that overall investor sentiment, which has been positive for the past 18 months, rose by five per cent in the three months to Sept 30, compared with the previous quarter.

About two-thirds of respondents here said their investments had brought in positive returns while around 63 per cent expect a higher return in the next three months. Such a positive outlook has been fuelled mainly by the strength of the stock market, which recently hit a 29-month high.

About 52 per cent of respondents in the survey believed their share investments will rise, compared with 46 per cent three months ago.

The survey was done by financial services firm ING Group, polling 3,755 affluent investors across 12 Asia-Pacific countries, including China and Singapore.

Remisier Desmond Leong attributed the bullish sentiment to the psychological effect of watching the stock market's march upwards. 'You may have doubts initially about its rise but when you see the market moving up, you jump in too.'

 

[Watchman]

Oct 19, 2010
MAPLETREE INDUSTRIAL TRUST IPO
28 times over-subscribed
By Francis Chan, Companies Correspondent


MAPLETREE Industrial Trust (MIT) on Tuesday said it received more than 86,000 valid applications, representing about 2.2 billion MIT units.

Priced at 93cents apiece, the total value subscribed by retail investors amounted to about $2.1 billion.

However, the Temasek Holdings-linked firm is only offering a shade over 80 million units to the public, which means the offer was almost 28-times over-subscribed.

The balloting outcome for the public offer will be out on Wednesday. MIT begins trading on Thursday.

In total, there was a demand for about 21.6 billion MIT units under the placement and the public offers, which represents 37.9 times the 569 million units available for subscription or a value of about $20.1 billion.

Mapletree Industrial Trust Management chief executive Tham Kuo Wei said the strong demand from investors was a signal of their confidence in the firm and its growth potential.

"We have put in place active asset management and growth strategies and aim to generate stable returns and build long-term value for our unitholders," he said.

MIT is the third real estate investment trust (Reit) to be launched by Mapletree Investments, a unit of Temasek. It is also Singapore's largest private landlord for multi-user flatted factory space with an 11.2 per cent market share.