Singapore Hot Stocks -Cosco, banks in focus

SINGAPORE, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ship-building firm Cosco Corp
COSCO.SI will be in focus on Monday after it said a Russian
ship owner has not yet paid the firm $12.4 million for repair
work.

Singapore banks such as Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp
(OCBC.SI) and DBS (DBSM.SI) will also be in focus ahead of
their quarterly earnings this week and after competitor United
Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) reported a 5 percent drop in net profit
last week.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday on signs of further thawing in
credit markets, ending the last trading of its worst months on
record on a positive note. ----------------------MARKET
SNAPSHOT @ 0005 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 968.75 1.54% 14.660
USD/JPY JPY= 98.51 -0.11% -0.110
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.9567 -- -0.017
SPOT GOLD XAU= 728.9 0.81% 5.850
US CRUDE CLc1 67.25 -0.83% -0.560
DOW JONES .DJI 9325.01 1.57% 144.32
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 95.80 -0.30% -0.29
-------------------------------------------------------------
>Ugly October ends with an upbeat day on Wall St [.N]
>Dollar steadies, European rate decisions eyed
[USD/] >TREASURIES-Bonds end little changed as stocks offset
data [US/] >Gold up more than $6 on steadier U.S. dollar

[GOL/] >NYMEX crude falls below $67 on demand concerns

[O/R]

Stocks and factors to watch:

-- COSCO

China-based ship-building firm Cosco Corp said in a
statement to the stock exchange on Sunday that the owner of
Russian-owned fish processing vessels owes it $12.4 million for
repair work. [ID:nSNB250021]

It said outstanding sum will not have a material impact on
its earnings and assets for the year ending December 2008.

-- BANKS

Banks will be in focus on Monday after investors' risk
appetite is expected to receive a boost from Wall Street gains
on Friday. But concerns about weaker earnings will also weigh
on OCBC and DBS, who will report their quarterly earnings on
Wednesday and Friday.

Morgan Stanley on Sunday cut the price target for United
Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) to S$13.00 from S$14.00 and reduced its
earnings estimates by 7 percent in 2009 and 10 percent in 2010
for the Singapore bank.

UOB reported a 5 percent drop in third-quarter profit on
Friday, as it wrote down bad debt and volatile markets hurt
non-interest income.[ID:nSIN140138]

-- OLAM INTERNATIONAL

Olam International (OLAM.SI) said on Monday it will pay
$9.9 million to acquire a sugar milling complex in India.

- Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index .FTSTI fell
0.43 percent to 1,794.20 points on Friday.

- The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 1.57 percent
to 9,325.01 and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC gained 1.32
percent to 1,720.95 points.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Kim Coghill)