SINGAPORE, April 15 (Reuters) – Oil-rig builder Sembcorp
Marine may be in focus on Wednesday after a large customer,
Petroprod, was placed under provisional liquidation. Petroprod
had placed orders worth over $500 million with the Singapore
firm, according to Business Times.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as a surprising drop in retail
sales dented hopes the recession was abating, while financial
shares slid on fears that Goldman Sachs’ (GS.N) share offering
could prompt other banks to follow suit.
———————-MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2359 GMT ————

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S and P 500 .SPX 841.5 -2.01% -17.230
USD/JPY 98.98 0.19% 0.190
10-YR US TSY YLD 2.7954 — 0.005
SPOT GOLD 888.1 -0.08% -0.750
US CRUDE CLc1 49.08 -0.67% -0.330
DOW JONES .DJI 7920.18 -1.71% -137.63
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 98.16 -1.95% -1.95
————————————————————- >
Weak retail sales, Goldman hit Wall St; eBay up late [.N] >
Dollar and yen gain on renewed safe-haven bid [USD/] >
Bonds climb on falling retail sales data [US/] >
Gold ends a tad lower but near-term strength seen [GOL/] >
Oil slips below $50 on demand, inventory forecasts [O/R]

Stocks and factors to watch:

— SEMBCORP MARINE (SCMN.SI)

– Sembcorp Marine said a large customer, Petroprod, has
been placed under provisional liquidation. J.P. Morgan said the
potential order-book cancellations may outweigh the positive
effect of a gas contract win by another Sembcorp unit, but kept
its “overweight” call on the rigbuilder. [ID:nSN4E51621]

— SINGAPORE AIRLINES (SIAL.SI)

– The world’s second-biggest airline by market value may
be in focus after Singapore and Malaysia agreed to expand their
bilateral air services agreement, which would give carriers of
both countries the right to operate between Singapore and six
new Malaysian destinations from June 1.

— PARKWAY HOLDINGS LTD (PARM.SI)

– The healthcare services provider said on Tuesday that
Chief Operating Officer Daniel Snyder had decided not to renew
his three-year job contract for personal reasons
[ID:nSN4E21031]

— SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS (SPRM.SI)

– DBS Vickers downgraded Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to
“hold” from “buy”, citing the 25 percent rise in the newspaper
publisher’s share price since the brokerage made its “buy”
call.

– LIAN BENGGROUP (LIBG.SI)

– The construction firm reported on Tuesday its net profit
rose 31 percent to S$11.4 million ($7.60 million) for the nine
months ended Feb 28, 2009 mainly on an increase in construction
activity. [ID:nSN4E91001]

– Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index .FTSTI rose
1.08 percent to 1,897.02 points on Tuesday.

– The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1.71 percent
to 7,920.18 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was down
1.67 percent to 1,625.72 points.
($1=1.501 Singapore Dollar)
(Reporting by Eveline Danubrata; Editing by Kevin Lim and
Muralikumar Anantharaman)