SG Morning Call | Singapore Preps Land for 8,505 Homes in 1H25; Singapore Outruns HK in "Trump Trade" Stock Rally

Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened lower on Monday. STI fell 0.1%; ComfortDelGro rose 0.7%; UOB fell 0.35%.

Stocks to Watch

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Monday (Dec 9):

$CapitaLand China Trust(AU8U.SI)$ (CLCT): The manager has appointed Gerry Chan as its CEO and an executive non-independent director with effect from Jan 1, 2025. The 48-year-old was appointed as deputy CEO on Sep 1. In an exchange filing on Friday, the manger said Chan’s latest appointment is part of its regular succession and leadership renewal process. Chan will succeed Tan Tze Wooi, who will be redesignated as a non-executive non-independent director.

$Lendlease Global Commercial Reit(JYEU.SI)$ (Lendlease Global Reit): The manager has entered into agreements for up to S$760 million in sustainability-linked term and revolving facilities. This includes a senior unsecured loan of up to S$420 million, with an accordion feature of up to S$200 million, and another for up to S$140 million. A debt facility’s accordion feature, or incremental facility, allows borrowers to expand total commitments under the credit agreement to accommodate incremental debt. The manager said in a filing on Friday the loans will be used to refinance the real estate investment trust’s existing debts.

$StarHub(CC3.SI)$: The telco is being investigated by the sector’s regulator for failing to verify the identity of users requesting to port their Giga e-SIMs to another phone. Giga is the no-frills sub-brand of StarHub. The Infocomm Media Development Authority told The Straits Times on Friday it is investigating the telco, which had “failed to fully implement this measure for the re-issuance of eSIM to customers through its app”. ST understands that for one customer, the lack of verification had resulted in hackers taking control of the phone line and gaining access to information including banking SMS OTPs.

SG Local News

Singapore Preps Land for 8,505 Homes in 2025 1H to Supersize Housing Supply

The overall private housing supply from Singapore’s Government Land Sales programme will amount to 8,505 homes in the first half of 2025, up from 8,140 in the current six-month period, according to the Ministry of National Development.

The figure includes 5,030 homes (including 980 hybrid public-private executive condo units) from 10 sites to be tendered out via the GLS confirmed list, the ministry said Friday in a release. A further 3,475 homes will be made available via nine sites on the GLS reserve list.

Singapore Outruns Hong Kong in 'Trump Trade' Stock Rally

Singapore shares are an early Asian winner of the post-U.S. election "Trump trade" -- investor bets on the economic impact of policies President-elect Donald Trump is likely to introduce when he returns to office in January.

Singapore has outpaced regional peers such as Hong Kong's Hang Seng, South Korea's KOSPI, and the Philippines' PSEi, which have all fallen since Trump won the Nov. 5 election. 

Mixed Outlook for S’Pore’s E-Commerce Industry

Increasing competition and an uncertain economic outlook have dampened growth prospects for Singapore’s e-commerce industry.

Observers told The Straits Times that while the industry is expected to expand in the coming years, it remains vulnerable to headwinds. 

Professor Lawrence Loh at the National University of Singapore Business school noted that e-commerce companies saw a surge in hiring during the pandemic to meet sudden spikes in demand, but shoppers are returning to physical stores, creating a likely oversupply of workers.

More Cancer Patients in Singapore Die, Compared with US, South Korea: Paper

More than double the number of cancer patients in Singapore die of the disease compared with those in Australia and the United States. In Asia, Singapore also fares worse than South Korea and Japan in terms of cancer survival rate.

Doctors say factors such as age at diagnosis, screening take-up rates and access to care are among possible reasons for the lower survival rate here.

A paper published by the Asia-Pacific Medical Technology Association (ApacMed) in June showed that 51 out of 100 cancer patients in Singapore die, compared with 24 in Australia, 25 in the US, 38 in South Korea and 41 in Japan.