United Overseas Bank

[blid2def]

Hire these guys to do it.

[LenaHuat]

Hi GR
Brad Pitt and George Clooney, I'll take them both any time

[kennynah]

al pacino, no ?

[winston]

Not vested. From AmFraser:-

Chance to buy at second lowest daily closing price ($11.40) in over 5 years
Support $11.26-40
Resistance $11.76-$12.30
Najeeb Jarhom; 6236-2816; [email protected]

Not often does a trader get a chance to pick up UOB at $11.40 feeling secure that based on daily closing basis, it had a lower finish than $11.40 (since mid- 2003), only once on Nov 24 (at multi year closing low of $11.26).

( Has business conditions and sentiment being this low since mid-2003 ? )

Of course there is a genuine fear from knowing that the day before Nov 24, it had hit as low as $10.92 but it ended at $11.70 while on Nov 24 itself its low was more acceptable at $11.18.

Its multi year intra-day low was $10.40 on Oct 28 (when STI also hit 1474 low) but surged back to day’s high of $12.74 at close.

Such wild trading gyrations have led the counter to continue to offer an exciting trading band since start of 2009 from a high of $13.98 to a brief low of $11.30 on Jan 21 (closed at day’s high of $11.84). The day earlier its low was $11.40 but ended at $11.60.

As part of a normal consolidation, the trading range has narrowed to between $11.40 and $12.30 since end-Jan, which is not likely to lead to a permanent break of $11.26-40 support.

Although today’s high so far of $11.54 is much lower than the usual $11.76-98 recent daily highs, it is due to the extremely quiet market conditions which should not be lasting.

UOB should move up back to higher end of $11.40-$12 usual short term band soon as technical signs are getting oversold (RSI at 39 is near year’s low of 38) while trading at the tip of support trend channel.

[financecaptain]

( Has business conditions and sentiment being this low since mid-2003 ? )

Yes, current conditions and sentiment are lower than mid-2003.
Wee Chow Yeow has already said that he has never seen anything like this in the 30 years he has been a banker.
If you are considering UOB to be a good long term buy, you can still wait.
Not vested yet.

[winston]

Yes, I probably will not touch the banks for another year. I've purposely taken them off my watch-list.

You know how it is. When you see them jumping 5%, you are afraid of missing the boat. I need to keep the big picture in mind. The earnings of the banks would not be that terrific for a while.

And why limit myself to a small Singapore bank when I can buy HSBC or Standard Chartered ?

[winston]

UNITED OVERSEAS BANK Shares of United Overseas Bank , Singapore's second-largest lender, fell as much as 2.9 percent on Friday on concerns the bank may make a rights offer following disappointing fourth quarter results.

UOB's October-December net profit fell a larger-than-expected 34 percent to S$332 million due to higher writedowns for bad debt and lower fees from capital markets. The bank also cut its dividend to 40 cents from 45 cents a year ago.

A dealer attributed the selling to UOB's poor results, although he added the dividend was "not too bad".

JPMorgan, which maintained its "neutral" rating on UOB, said the shares will remain under pressure due to concerns about a possible rights issue.

"Tier 1 ratio below peers may lead to renewed concerns on capital raising," the U.S. bank said in a report.

By 0751 GMT, UOB was down 2.9 percent, underperforming the 1.5 percent fall in the benchmark Straits Times Index <.FTSTI>.

UOB shares were up around 1.5 percent before the midday break when UOB announced its results.

[winston]

UNITED OVERSEAS BANK - J.P.Morgan cut its price target for United Overseas Bank (UOB) to S$13.00 from S$15.00 largely due to the bank's lower book value.

- UOB said it was comfortable with its current Tier 1 ratio of 10.9 percent and confident on its capital position for the next three to six months.

[winston]

Singapore Hot Stocks-UOB at 6-yr low,broker downgrades weigh

SINGAPORE, March 02 (Reuters) - Shares of United Overseas Bank , Singapore's second-largest lender, fell six percent to a six-year low on Monday after brokers cut their price targets for the bank following last week's poor earnings result.

Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the bank to "neutral" from its previous "outperform" and cut its target price to S$12.00 from S$14.75.

"The analyst briefing gave us the impression that UOB is taking a more bearish view among the three (Singapore) banks, recognising NPLs (non-performing loans) faster, providing conservatively and acting to avoid a dilution," Credit Suisse analysts said.

JP Morgan cut its price target to S$13.00 from S$15.00, largely citing UOB's lower book value due to mark-to-market losses on its portfolio of securities. The broker said it prefers DBS , Southeast Asia's biggest bank, over UOB.

JP Morgan maintained its "neutral" rating for UOB in a report on Monday and forecast a 42 percent year-on-year decline in the bank's 2009 net profit.

UOB's fourth quarter net profit fell a larger-than-expected 34 percent due to higher writedowns for bad debt and lower fees from capital markets [ID:nSIN241964].

Deutsche Bank also slashed UOB's target price to S$11.30 from S$12.40 due to the bank's lower return-on-equity.

UOB shares fell about 6 percent to S$9.38, their lowest in almost six years, while DBS shares dropped 4.2 percent and Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp slipped 3.6 percent.

[winston]

BUSINESS TIMES - United Overseas Bank has tied up with SingPost to sell government home loans, muscling its way into mass market mortgages that have so far been dominated by rival DBS , and OCBC Bank .