By: Kleer I've been saying for the past few months that this round of corporate results, especially those of the bigger companies, will be vital to determine the direction in which the market will move in 2H2008. At present, some companies have already announced their results, and I'm pleased to say that they have been encouraging so far. For the large caps: SPC announced a -12% fall in quarterly profit. This is fairly reasonable and expected given rising oil prices and the weakening USD. SPH announced a -7% fall in quarterly profit, but this was mostly due to a significant decrease in investment income. Otherwise, its profits would have increased 36% due to increased contribution from its property development. Read more....