To minimise the likelihood of another circuit breaker, the multi-ministry taskforce has introduced additional anti-Covid-19 measures taking the country back to Phase 2 measures that will take effect from May 8 to May 30.
On this, CGS-CIMB Research analyst Lim Siew Khee has advised investors not to take any action on reopening plays just yet.
To Lim, the reduced activities would impact transport stocks such as ComfortDelGro (CDG), SBS Transit, retail REITs including Starhill Global REIT (SGREIT), Frasers Commercial Trust (FCT), Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT), SPH REIT, as well as counters that would benefit from the re-opening, such as Genting Singapore (GENS) and Jumbo.
Office REITs, she says, would be less affected due to the existing hybrid work-from-home/office structure.
Sentiment among developers and realtors could also be slightly affected if transaction volumes decline slightly from more virtual viewings compared to physical ones.
SEE:Singapore's stock rally stalls after return to Phase 2 measures
She adds that some profit-taking in banks and travel-related stocks such as Singapore Airlines (SIA) and SATS, given their year-to-date (y-t-d) performance, would not be unusual.
“Singapore Exchange (SGX) could be neutral on peak average daily volume (ADV),” she writes.
Counters that have benefitted from the Covid-19 pandemic could see a renewed interest on the back of the uncertainty over a potential lockdown.
These include supermarket stocks like Sheng Siong and Dairy Farm International (DFI), as well as glove stocks like UG Healthcare and Riverstone.
“A heightened pace of testing is likely to benefit healthcare proxies (Q&M and Raffles Medical),” says Lim.
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“Industrial REITS (Mapletree Logistics Trust, Keppel DC REIT, Ascendas REIT, Mapletree Industrial Trust) could offer some shelter,” she adds.
“These REITS outperformed the Straits Times Index (STI) in March to May. We keep our end-FY2021 STI target at 3,140 pts, based on 14.2 times 12M forward price-to-earnings for now.”
As at 10.53am, the STI is trading 25.76 points higher or 0.8% up at 3,198.76.
