Singapore's December NODX to plunge 7.5%

Another addition to the losing streak.

According to DBS, non-oil domestic export figures for Dec12 are on tap Thursday morning. Except for a positive blip in October, the headline export sales number has been on a losing streak since August.

"And December will not be any difference. A drop of 7.5% YoY and about 3% MoM sa have been penciled into our forecast. Weak demand, a strong currency and a high base in the same period in 2011 are the reasons why. Note that NODX recorded its highest reading of the year in Dec11," the report further noted.

In addition, though economic data has been improving in many Asia economies, Singapore has been the outlier, much due to its declining competitiveness. A strong
Sing dollar and the rapidly rising business cost have been eroding the gains to exporters.

"Perhaps some upsides to pharmaceutical export sales will help but that has always been the most unpredictable factor," DBS said.

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