SG Morning Call | SIA Passenger Traffic up 24.5% YoY in Oct; Adult Singaporeans to Receive Assurance Package Support

All Adult Singaporeans to Receive up to S$800 in Assurance Package Support in December

All Singaporean adults will receive between S$200 (US$148) and S$800 in December this year under the Assurance Package, which aims to help with inflation and cost of living concerns. 

About 2.9 million will receive up to S$600 in Assurance Package Cash, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Wednesday (Nov 15).

Singapore October Home Sales Fall as Supply Weakness Weighs

Singapore home sales fell for a third month, to the lowest since 2022, as a lack of major property projects being launched continued to drag on the market.

New private apartments sold by developers dropped to 203 units in October, according to figures released Wednesday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Singapore Wants to Play "Long Game" in AI Space, MAS Official Says

Singapore aims to foster the responsible development of artificial intelligence technology after learning lessons from upheavals in the digital-asset sector, according to the chief fintech officer at the central bank.

“We want to play a long game on this space,” Monetary Authority of Singapore official Sopnendu Mohanty said on Bloomberg Television. “We want to ensure whatever AI we adopt or we promote, it stays for a long period of time. We have learned a lot of lessons in the whole DLT/digital currency space. If you rush yourself very fast, you may see bad actors coming very quickly.”

Analysts Cut Targets on Sea, Mixed on E-Commerce Growth Pursuits

ANALYSTS have cut their target prices on Internet company $Sea(SE)$, amid mixed sentiment over the group’s ability to resist intense competition and reap the fruits from planned investments to bolster its e-commerce segment.

On Tuesday (Nov 14), the group posted a US$143.9 million loss for the third quarter of 2023, sinking into the red after three quarters in the black. The results missed an analyst consensus of US$102 million in profit, and came as the company shifted its focus to growth for its e-commerce business.

Sea plans to pursue growth with a focus on maintaining financial discipline and a strong balance sheet for the long term. It noted that any investment made to achieve this would be done within its means and at its pace.

SIA Group Passenger Traffic up 24.5% Year on Year in October

$Singapore Airlines Ltd.(C6L.SI)$ on Wednesday (Nov 15) posted a 24.5 per cent year-on-year (yoy) increase in passenger traffic in October, amid robust passenger traffic across all its route regions.

Its bourse filing indicated that revenue passenger-kilometre, which measures the number of passengers carried multiplied by the distance flown, rose to 12.1 billion during the month, from 9.7 billion the year before.

The growth in passenger traffic outpaced the 23 per cent expansion in its capacity. As a result of this, the group’s passenger load factor (PLF) rose by one percentage point to 87.4 per cent. (Passenger load factor is expressed as a percentage of available seat-km.)