Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is pleased to announce the final changes to the minimum bids schedule for the securities market. The new schedule, which will be implemented on 24th Dec 2007, seeks to improve trading efficiency and market liquidity.

The final changes include:

1) Reducing the minimum bid sizes for securities¹ priced above $3.00;

2) Customising the minimum bid structures for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), bonds, debentures, loan stocks; and Hong Kong Dollar as well as Japanese Yen denominated securities traded on SGX; and

3) Widening the threshold for member firm forced orders key from the current +/- 6 bids to +/-10 bids for the main securities products²

¹ securities exclude ETFs, bonds, debentures, loan stocks and those securities traded in Japanese Yen and Hong Kong Dollar.

² main securities products exclude ETFs, bonds, debentures and loan stocks.

QDII Funds and FTSE ST China Index add buzz to S-Shares. We expect the interest in S-Shares to sustain in 2008, bolstered by the influx of QDII funds as well as the introduction of the FTSE ST China Index.

The FTSE ST China Index also opens opportunities for the implementation of a wider suite of products, such as derivatives based on S-Shares, adding to the buzz surrounding these stocks.Focus on the Consumer and Manufacturing sectors. Among the universe of S-Shares, we are bullish on the consumer sector, for its ability to leverage on China’s strong consumption growth, and the manufacturing sector, for its strategic advantage of having a low cost manufacturing base.

Our stock picks are: Cacola Furniture International Ltd (BUY, Fair value estimate of S$0.75), Man Wah Holdings Ltd (BUY, S$0.99), China SportsInternational Ltd (BUY, S$2.48), and Pacific Andes Holdings Ltd (BUY, S$0.87) for the consumer sector, and Bright World Precision Machinery Ltd (BUY, S$0.80), Dutech Holdings Ltd (BUY, S$0.535), Midas Holdings Ltd (BUY, S$1.85) and Midsouth Holdings Ltd (BUY, S$0.90) for the manufacturing sector.