Market Snapshot
The Singpore stock market closed on Wednesday, January 1, 2025 for New Year's Day.
SG Local News
Singapore Growth Beats Estimates as PM Wong Flags Global Risks
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the country’s economy performed better than expected in 2024, building a strong foundation for the city state to confront a more complex international environment next year.
Gross domestic product expanded 4%, Wong said in his New Year’s message. That beat the trade ministry’s November forecast for an expansion of around 3.5%. The strong economy will allow real incomes to rise further to outpace inflation, Wong added.
In his first New Year message since becoming Singapore’s fourth prime minister since independence, Wong pledged to help the city navigate rising global tensions and to keep tackling livelihood issues at home.
“We will provide more targeted help to those who find it harder to cope, especially older people and lower-income groups,” Wong said, according to a copy of the speech released by the government. “No one will be left behind, because we are all in this together.”
Keppel Delivers Higher Asset Monetisation as It Gears up for Next Phase of Its Transformation
Fund manager and operator Keppel has delivered higher asset monetisation in 2024 despite the challenging market, said chief executive officer Loh Chin Hua in a New Year’s message to employees on Wednesday (Jan 1).
Keppel has unlocked US$1.5 billion through its asset monetisation programme, higher than the S$950 million monetised in 2023.
“We have indeed made considerable progress in our ongoing transformation from a diverse industrial conglomerate into one horizontally integrated business; from a balance sheet player to an asset manager funding growth with funds under management (FUM); and from lumpy trading and order book profits to recurring income,” said Loh.
SingPost Deliveries in Whistle-Blower Report Faced Issues Like Conflict Zones: Fired CEO, CFO
A “Significant majority” of the shipments involved in Singapore Post’s (SingPost) Parcelgate fiasco were linked to known issues like conflict zones.
This was the comeback from the company’s former group chief executive Vincent Phang and group chief financial officer Vincent Yik on Tuesday (Dec 31) – who, along with Li Yu, head of its international business unit (IBU) – were sacked for being “grossly negligent” in their handling of a whistle-blower report and subsequent investigations.
SingPost had earlier found and terminated three managers in the IBU for making manual updates of the “delivery failure” status code for parcels it had agreed to deliver even though no delivery attempt was made.
Singapore-Flagged Bulk Carrier and Japan Ship Collide in China, No Injuries
A Singapore-registered bulk carrier collided with a Japan-flagged ship in China on Monday night (Dec 30), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred in the Changjiang River at about 10pm Singapore time.
The Singapore vessel, YANGZE 22, reported damage to its hull and is currently anchored at Hengsha East Anchorage for damage assessment.
It also reported that about nine metric tonnes of fuel oil spilt due to the collision.
Both YANGZE 22 and the Japan ship, VEGA DREAM, are in stable condition and no injuries to the crews have been reported.
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