DBS Initiates ‘Buy’ on Yangzijiang Maritime, Citing Investments, Shipbuilding Opportunities
DBS Group Research initiated a “buy” on Singapore‑listed Yangzijiang Maritime, setting a target price of S$0.88 (≈ $0.65) – a 63% upside from the current S$0.59 (≈ $0.44). The company has rapidly assembled an 80‑vessel portfolio and deployed over US$700 million in maritime investments, with a pipeline of 50 new‑build ships. DBS projects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to rise to US$160 million in FY2026 and US$176 million in FY2027, implying 15‑20% annual growth. A diversified fleet and integrated revenue streams are expected to cushion the sector’s cyclicality and support decarbonisation compliance.
Competition Watchdog Seeks Feedback on Proposed Commercial Tie-Up Between SIA and Vietnam Airlines
Singapore's Competition and Consumer Commission (CCS) has opened a public consultation on a proposed commercial joint venture between Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Vietnam Airlines. The partnership would coordinate scheduling, pricing, sales and marketing on overlapping routes between the two countries,...
Singapore Stocks Rise After US-Iran Ceasefire Announcement; STI up 0.8%
Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 0.8% to 4,996 points after the United States and Iran announced a two‑week cease‑fire, lifting regional risk sentiment. Blue‑chip SATS surged 4.5% to S$3.72 (≈$2.75), while DFI Retail slipped 3.5% to US$4.38. The three major...
Revolut to Open Paris Office as Lender Seeks to Expand in Europe
Revolut announced a 10‑year lease for a six‑floor, 2,400‑square‑metre office at 116 Rue Reaumur, establishing its Western European headquarters in Paris by early 2027. The neobank aims to staff the location with more than 400 employees, many in risk and compliance, as...
Singtel Could Be the Real Winner as Mom-and-Pop Investors Land Surprise S$6,800 Windfall
Singtel is transferring about 615,000 Special Discounted Shares from a CPF‑trust arrangement into individual Central Depository (CDP) accounts, giving the median holder a cash windfall of S$6,800 (approximately $5,000 USD). The legacy structure, which barred direct communication with most retail...
Asian Airlines Maintain AI Investments Despite Budget Cuts Due to Iran War Oil Shock
Asian airlines are slashing capital expenditures to conserve cash amid an oil shock that has pushed jet‑fuel prices above $100 a barrel, yet they are safeguarding AI and data‑infrastructure budgets. Thai Airways is rolling out an enterprise data platform, while...
‘Cash Is King’: Asian Airlines Hoard Liquidity to Survive Worst Oil Shock Since 1980s
Asian airlines are pivoting from growth to cash preservation after a sudden oil shock caused by Middle East refinery damage and the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Jet‑fuel prices have jumped roughly 140% in a month, pushing the...
Nam Cheong Bags RM102.5 Million in Vessel Charter Contracts
Nam Cheong secured offshore support‑vessel charter contracts worth up to RM102.5 million (approximately $23 million USD) from regional oil majors. The deals, each lasting up to two years with a one‑year extension option, bring the company’s long‑term charter coverage to 69%—25 of...
Prime US Reit Signs 40,000 Sq Ft Lease at Class A Office Building in Colorado
Prime US Real Estate Investment Trust (OXMU) has secured an 11‑year lease for roughly 40,000 sq ft with S&P Global at the Class A Village Center Station I in Denver. The agreement lifts the building’s committed occupancy from 63% to 80%, marking a significant step...
Singapore Stocks Rise Amid Mixed Regional Showing; STI up 0.5%
Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.5% to 4,972.40 points on Monday, buoyed by a 3.1% gain in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which closed at S$3.95 (≈$2.92). The iEdge Singapore Next 50 outperformed, climbing 1.3% as Pan‑United surged 5.6% to S$1.71 (≈$1.26). Overall...
SMFG, Nippon Life in Talks to Set up 500 Billion Yen Private Credit Fund: Sources
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Nippon Life Insurance are negotiating a joint‑venture to launch a private‑credit fund with at least ¥500 billion (about $3.3 billion) in initial capital. The fund will focus on leveraged‑buyout loans, real‑estate financing and mezzanine debt, and...
Indonesia to Allow Airlines to Raise Fares by up to 13%
Indonesia’s government announced that airlines may increase ticket prices by raising the fuel surcharge up to 38 percent of the fare ceiling, translating to an overall fare hike of 9‑13 percent for the next two months. The measure is paired with exemptions...
The Iran War Is Reshaping Global Aviation
The Iran war forced the closure of Iranian and Iraqi airspace, grounding Gulf carriers and stripping Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad of much of their long‑haul capacity. European flag carriers such as Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France‑KLM quickly redeployed...
After Yeo’s, Tiger Beer: Why some Singapore F&B Firms Leave – and Others Stay
Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (APBS) and Yeo Hiap Seng announced plans to scale back Singapore production, moving brewing to Malaysia and Vietnam and consolidating canned‑drink manufacturing in Malaysia. The decisions illustrate an accelerating regionalisation of Singapore’s food‑and‑beverage sector as firms...
Buyback Consideration in First Quarter Surpasses S$500 Million
In the first quarter of 2026, about 50 Singapore‑listed companies repurchased roughly S$560 million (≈ $414 million) of shares, up from S$330 million a year earlier. Singtel led the market with S$123 million (≈ $91 million) of buybacks, followed by OCBC at S$116 million (≈ $86 million) and Keppel at...
How Discounts, Deals Are Helping Petrol Players Counter Cnergy’s Low Pump Prices
Singapore’s retail petrol market faces new competition from Cnergy, which sells 95‑octane at about S$2.40 per litre (~$1.78). Incumbents like Shell and Sinopec counter with stacked discounts that bring their effective prices close to Cnergy’s, e.g., Shell’s price drops to...
How the Iran War Is Fuelling Wild Swings in Interest-Rate Bets
The Iran war has injected fresh uncertainty into global inflation and growth forecasts, prompting dramatic swings in interest‑rate swap markets across the US, UK and Europe. Traders have shifted from betting on rate cuts to pricing multiple hikes within minutes,...
Japanese Firms Reduce Share Buybacks for First Time Since 2020
Japanese listed companies announced 1,365 share‑buyback programmes for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, a slight decline from 1,399 the prior year and the first drop since 2020. Total repurchases amounted to a record 24.9 trillion yen (about $161 billion), following a...
Stocks to Watch: ST Engineering, Nio, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, China Everbright Water
Singapore’s ST Engineering secured a six‑year, roughly $444 million marine subcontract from Abu Dhabi Ship Building to supply platform systems for eight missile‑gun boats for the Kuwait Navy, lifting its shares 2.7 % to S$11.10. Chinese EV maker Nio reported a 136 %...
Expectations for AGM and Reporting Timeliness
SGX Regulation (SGX RegCo) reports a growing number of listed issuers seeking extensions to hold their annual general meetings (AGMs) and publish required financial, annual and sustainability reports. The exchange’s listing rules mandate an AGM within four months of fiscal...
‘Real Pain’ to Set In: Businesses Brace for Impact as EMA Warns of Potentially Sharper Rise in Power Tariffs
Singapore’s Energy Market Authority warned that electricity and town‑gas tariffs will likely rise sharper in coming quarters as global energy costs surge amid the Gulf conflict. SP Group lifted household electricity rates by 2.1% – an increase of S$0.0056/kWh (≈ $0.0041/kWh)...
Wall St Opens Higher on Mideast De-Escalation Hopes; Monthly Losses Loom
Wall Street opened higher on Tuesday as investors cheered a report suggesting a possible de‑escalation in the Middle East conflict. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 325.6 points, or 0.72%, to 45,541.76. The S&P 500 gained 52.2 points, up 0.82% to...
OCBC to Trim Interest Rate for Flagship 360 Account From May 1
OCBC announced it will lower the interest rate on its flagship 360 Account to 4.45% per annum for the first S$100,000 (about $74,000) starting May 1, down from 5.45%. This is the first adjustment to the 360 Account rates in 2026...
CDL CEO Sherman Kwek’s FY2025 Pay Jumps 71% to S$5.1 Million as Group Profit Triples
City Developments Ltd (CDL) announced that CEO Sherman Kwek’s total FY2025 compensation jumped 71% to S$5.1 million (≈ $3.8 million), after the group’s profit more than tripled to S$629.7 million (≈ $466 million). Executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng also saw a 24% pay rise, earning S$7.4 million (≈ $5.5 million). The...
China's Zhipu Posts 132% Rise in Annual Revenue on AI Boom
Zhipu AI, a Tsinghua University spinoff, reported a 131.9% revenue surge in 2025, reaching 533.9 million yuan (about $75 million) from its core on‑premise deployments and 190.4 million yuan ($27 million) from cloud API services. The company posted a net loss of 4.72 billion yuan...
JD.com-backed Group Picks Banks for IPO of Singapore Reit: Sources
JD.com’s property arm and partners have appointed Bank of America, DBS Group and UBS as advisers for a Singapore‑based real estate investment trust (REIT). The REIT, which will bundle assets from JD Property, Partners Group and EZA Hill, targets roughly...
Events Manager Kin Productions Lodges Preliminary Prospectus for Catalist IPO
Kin Productions, a Singapore‑based sports‑events manager, lodged a preliminary prospectus to list on SGX’s Catalist board, aiming to raise capital for expansion into event tourism. The company reported nine‑month FY2025 net profit of S$4 million (≈$3 million) and revenue of S$56.5 million (≈$42 million),...
Apac Airlines Fly 9% More Passengers in February, but Iran War Clouds Outlook
Asia‑Pacific airlines carried 33 million international passengers in February, a 9 percent year‑on‑year increase. Revenue passenger kilometres rose 8.8 percent and the average load factor climbed to 83.4 percent, buoyed by Chinese New Year leisure travel. Jet fuel costs surged from about $90 to...
RHB Initiates ‘Buy’ on iFast on Rising Asia-Pacific Wealth Management Demand
RHB has initiated a “buy” rating on iFast, setting a target price of S$12.20 (≈$9.00) – a 36.7% upside from the recent close of S$8.94 (≈$6.60). The broker highlights the rapid expansion of Asia‑Pacific wealth management, projected to reach $41.8 trillion...
S-Reits Pursuing Growth as Iran War Escalates Risk Poorly Timed Equity Raising Exercises
L‑Reit’s $145 million equity raise to fund a 30% PLQ Mall stake was badly timed, with the offering undersubscribed and the unit price slipping below the S$0.558 ($0.41) offer. Meanwhile, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit (Clar) is pursuing a $1.0 billion asset purchase, raising...
DBS Joins Buzzing India IPO Space with Mandate in US$1 Billion Offering
DBS Group has entered India’s equity capital market by winning its first IPO mandate from Manipal Health Enterprises, a $1 billion offering. The Singapore‑based lender is establishing a full‑service investment‑banking platform under its merchant‑banking licence, with an on‑shore ECM team led...
Oil Prices Gain as Traders Doubt Prospects of Ceasefire in Iran War
Oil prices jumped on March 27 as traders grew skeptical about a cease‑fire in the month‑long Iran conflict. Brent crude rose 4.2% to $112.57 a barrel and WTI gained 5.5% to $99.64. Since the February 27 strikes, Brent is up...
Fullerton Fund Management, 65 Equity Partners to Manage Second Anchor Fund Tranche
Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and Temasek have appointed Fullerton Fund Management and 65 Equity Partners to manage the second tranche of the Anchor Fund, a S$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) pool launched to anchor high‑quality listings. Fullerton will serve as a...
SoftBank Secures US$40 Billion Loan to Boost OpenAI Investments
SoftBank Group announced a $40 billion unsecured bridge loan to fund its OpenAI stake and broader corporate needs. The loan, arranged with JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui and MUFG, matures in March 2027. This financing follows a prior $30 billion commitment...
Sembcorp Chairman Tow Heng Tan to Retire; Andreas Sohmen-Pao to Succeed Him From Jun 1
Sembcorp Industries announced that chairman Tow Heng Tan will retire on June 1 after a 50‑year corporate career, having served three years as chairman and five on the board. Andreas Sohmen‑Pao, the long‑time head of BW Group, has been named chairman‑designate and...
Jardine Cycle & Carriage Appoints Freddy Lee as CEO From May 1
Jardine Cycle & Carriage announced that Freddy Lee will assume the chief executive officer role on May 1, 2026, succeeding Ben Birks. Lee, currently the group finance director, joins the CEO post after a year in the finance function and a...
China’s Big Banks Post Flat 2025 Profit on Margin Squeeze
China’s four biggest state‑owned banks reported essentially flat earnings for 2025 as record‑low net interest margins and rising loan‑impairment provisions squeezed profitability. ICBC’s net income edged up 0.7% to ¥368.6 billion (≈$51 billion), while the sector’s combined profit rose 2.3% to ¥2.38 trillion...
Singapore Stocks Rebound on Friday, STI up 0.2%
Singapore’s Straits Times Index nudged up 0.2% to 4,898.18 points, driven by modest gains in the three major banks and a 5.7% jump in UOB Kay Hian (S$3.53, about $2.61). The iEdge Singapore Next 50 fell 0.7%, with Yanlord Land losing...
Low Tuck Kwong Sues Peter Kwee for A$9.6 Million over Alleged Material Defects
Indonesian coal billionaire Low Tuck Kwong and Energy Resource Investment sued Peter Kwee and Chan Kok Choon for roughly $6.3 million USD over alleged material defects in Australian golf‑club and hotel assets. The dispute arises from a June 2025 share‑purchase agreement valued...
RHB Downgrades S-Reits to ‘Neutral’ as Middle East Conflict Dims Hope for Rate Cuts
RHB downgraded its call on Singapore REITs to neutral from overweight, citing the Iran‑Israel conflict’s impact on global bond yields and delayed rate‑cut expectations. Analysts now see the U.S. Federal Reserve postponing its first cut until 2027, while European and...
Singapore Ramps up Push to Become Asia-Pacific’s Gold Trading Hub Amid Rising Investor Demand
Singapore is accelerating its bid to become the Asia‑Pacific gold‑trading hub, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore Bullion Market Association (SBMA) outlining four strategic focus areas: capital‑market products, vaulting standards, a dedicated clearing system, and vault...
Bank of Korea Flags Financial Stability Risks as Iran War Fallout Persists
The Bank of Korea says South Korea’s financial system stayed broadly stable in March but warns that Middle‑East tensions, uneven growth and persistent housing price gains could spark volatility. Board member Lee Soohyung highlighted the risk of foreign‑exchange swings, capital...
Sert Invests 50 Million Euros in Data Centre Development Fund AiOnX
Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust (Sert) has committed €50 million (≈ $54 million) to AiOnX’s data‑centre development fund through a mandatory convertible loan. The loan carries a 7.25% cash coupon, equating to roughly €3.6 million ($3.9 million) per year, and is expected to lift AiOnX’s distribution...
Aspex Demands Delivery Hero CEO Exit and Audit over 1.5 Billion Euro Legal Risk
Aspex Management, which owns more than 9% of Delivery Hero, has sent a letter to the supervisory board demanding CEO Niklas Östberg’s exit and the appointment of a special auditor to investigate a €1.5 billion (≈$1.6 billion) legal liability. The fund set an...
Nasa to Spend US$20 Billion on Moon Base, Cancel Orbiting Lunar Station
NASA announced it will cancel the Lunar Gateway orbital station and redirect its resources to build a $20 billion lunar surface base over the next seven years. The decision was made by new NASA chief Jared Isaacman, who said the agency...
Wall St Opens Higher After Trump Postpones Strikes on Iranian Power Plants
Wall Street opened higher on Monday after President Donald Trump announced a postponement of U.S. strikes on Iranian power plants, easing geopolitical tension. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 226.3 points (0.5%) to 45,803.82, the S&P 500 gained 68.5 points (1.05%)...
ST Engineering, Asian Defence Peers Rally as Middle East Conflict Deepens, but War Not Seen as a Spending Catalyst
Asian defence stocks have rallied sharply as the Middle East conflict entered its fourth week, with Singapore’s ST Engineering up 27.6% year‑to‑date and leading the Straits Times Index. Analysts say the surge reflects investor optimism about longer‑term structural drivers—U.S. “America...
DBS Downgrades Singtel to ‘Hold’ on Weaker Valuation of Bharti Airtel
DBS Group Research downgraded Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) to a “hold” and cut its target price to S$5.36 (about $4) after trimming the valuation of its Indian associate Bharti Airtel by 13% to 2,000 rupees (≈ $24). The analyst warned that Singtel’s FY2027...
Singapore Stocks Fall on Monday; STI Down 2.2%
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index fell 2.2% (107.57 points) to 4,841.30 on March 23, 2026. Trading activity reached 2.1 billion securities worth S$2.8 billion (≈ $2.07 billion). Sembcorp Industries was the only blue‑chip gainer, up 2.6% (S$0.16 ≈ $0.12), while Singtel slumped 5.4% (S$0.28 ≈ $0.21) amid service disruptions. Regional...
Singtel Says Network ‘Operating as Expected’ After Latest Internet Service Disruption
Singtel experienced a fresh Internet service disruption on March 23, with over 9,700 user reports logged on Downdetector within a few hours. Roughly half of the complaints involved broadband connections and about a third concerned mobile Internet. The company identified...