NEWS TICKER, MARCH 2ND 2015: Turnover at Deutsche Börse’s cash markets at €125.5bn euros last month. Order book turnover on Xetra, Börse Frankfurt and Tradegate Exchange across all asset classes stood at €125.5bn in February (February 2014: €102.6bn). Of that, €113.4bn was attributable to Xetra (February 2014: €93.4 billion). The average daily turnover on Xetra stood at €5.7bn last month (February 2014: €4.7bn). Meantime, Börse Frankfurt reported turnover of €4.9bn was (February 2014: €4.7bn). Order book turnover on Tradegate Exchange touched approximately €7.2bn in February (February 2014: €4.6bn). Broken down by asset classes, turnover in equities reached about €107.1bn. Turnover in ETFs/ETCs/ETNs amounted to €15.9bn. Turnover in bonds was €0.7bn, and in structured products €1.5bn. Viewed by transactions, a total of 18.0m trades were executed on Xetra in February (February 2014: 16.7m). - Moody's has released a special edition of its compendium of Asian oil and gas research, following the collapse of crude oil prices in recent months. The compendium, covering both corporates and sovereigns in the region. "The steep drop in crude oil prices since mid-2014 will materially reduce the earnings and cash flows of Asian oil & gas companies and weaken their credit metrics in 2015," says Vikas Halan, a Moody's vice president and senior credit officer. "At the same time the low prices will benefit most Asia Pacific sovereigns, given the region's status as a net oil importer," adds Halan. Crude prices more than halved between June 2014 and January 2015, reflecting higher-than-expected oil production in the US and lower demand in emerging markets. At the same time, with the slowing growth in worldwide demand, oil markets will likely remain oversupplied in the next two years. The demand-supply imbalance may be exacerbated if China's economic growth slows sharply or if significant lifting of economic sanctions on Iran further increases oil volumes. Moody's has lowered its price assumptions for Brent crude to $55/barrel through 2015 and $65/barrel in 2016. - Businesses are increasingly collecting and using data from, and about, consumers. This includes the identity of their customers, what they consume, where they live and work and other demographic information. It also includes information on who they connect with, their interests and attitudes. The UK Competition and Markets Authority is calling for information in a fact-finding exercise to help understand fully how businesses collect and use this data for commercial purposes and the implications for firms and consumers. Response forms can be found on the authority’s website - According to local press reports, Malaysia-based healthcare group Qualitas Healthcare Corporation Ltd, will decide this week either to list on Bursa Malaysia or put itself up for sale. The estimated value for the firm is reportedly around MYR1.2bn and press reports say it is in active negotiations with at least three potential buyers – International law firm Ropes & Gray has advised Crescent Capital Partners Management Pty Limited (Crescent) on the successful establishment of the over-subscribed Crescent Capital Partners V (Crescent V). An AUD675m fund, Crescent V will seek to invest in middle market businesses primarily in Australia and New Zealand with a focus on companies worth between AUD50m and AUD300m - MEPs will this week focus on the €315bn investment plan to boost growth in Europe, discussing with experts its three pillars: an investment fund, an advisory hub and a project pipeline. On Monday afternoon the economic affairs and budget committees hold a hearing with experts to discuss the €315bn investment plan for Europe as proposed by the European Commission - permanent tsb (PTSB), the Irish retail bank, will be using SAS solutions to deliver quicker and more efficient credit-decisioning, says the bank. Analysing this data in real-time will enable the bank to make quicker decisions that reflect each customer’s circumstances - The Straits Times Index (STI) ended +1.03 points higher or +0.03% to 3403.89, taking the year-to-date performance to +1.15%. The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index declined -0.39% while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index declined -1.14%. The top active stocks were SingTel (+0.47%), DBS (-1.48%), OCBC Bank (-0.86%), Noble (-3.08%) and UOB (-0.04%). The outperforming sectors today were represented by the FTSE ST Consumer Goods Index (+0.68%). The two biggest stocks of the FTSE ST Consumer Goods Index are Wilmar International (+0.31%) and Thai Beverage (+2.14%). The underperforming sector was the FTSE ST Basic Materials Index, which declined -3.44% with Midas Holdings’ share price gaining +1.61% and Geo Energy Resources’ share price declining -1.57%. The three most active Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) by value today were the STI ETF (-0.29%), IS MSCI India (+0.37%), SPDR Gold Shares (+1.10%).