Market Forecast
The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in six straight sessions, jumping almost 70 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just shy of the 3,225-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Wednesday.
The STI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and the property stocks.
For the day, the index improved 9.41 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 3,223.09 after trading between 3,217.25 and 3,228.44.
Among the actives, Ascendas REIT gained 0.36 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust sank 0.53 percent, CapitaLand Investment retreated 1.28 percent, City Developments rose 0.30 percent, Comfort DelGro and SATS both skidded 0.78 percent, DBS Group added 0.42 percent, Hongkong Land spiked 1.42 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust rallied 1.35 percent, Mapletree Logistics Trust climbed 0.60 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.64 percent, Seatrium Limited jumped 1.40 percent, SembCorp Industries fell 0.18 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering advanced 0.52 percent, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slumped 1.13 percent and SingTel, Thai Beverage, Wilmar International, Yangzijiang Financial, Emperador, Genting Singapore, Keppel Corp, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Frasers Logistics were unchanged.
Local News to Watch
Singapore, Vietnam economic ties not about matching investments: PM Lee
Vietnamese companies may not have expanded to Singapore on “a big scale”, but Singaporeans have still benefited when their own companies headed to Vietnam, through jobs created in both countries, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday (Aug 29).
“I wouldn’t look at it as needing reciprocity, in terms of Vietnamese investments needing to match our investments into Vietnam,” PM Lee told Singaporean reporters on the third and final day of his official trip to Hanoi.
“I think in due course, (investments) will come as their economy develops and reaches a higher level where companies will want to go overseas,” he added.
Condo resale prices continue to soften in July, volumes rise: SRX, 99.co
Singapore condominium resale prices continued to soften in July, although volumes rose slightly as buyers brought forward their home purchases ahead of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
Overall resale prices dipped 0.2 per cent from the month before but were up 7.4 per cent on the year, flash estimates from SRX and 99.co released on Tuesday (Aug 29) indicated.
Although prices were down for the second straight month, the price drop is “too marginal to be considered a price correction”, noted Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie.
She said this could be an early sign of price stabilisation, an opinion shared by PropNex Realty’s head of research and content, Wong Siew Ying.
Sembcorp JV to develop 4 new industrial parks in Vietnam; 10 more proposed
Sembcorp Industries and longstanding partner Becamax have received approvals to develop four new industrial parks in Vietnam, the Singapore-listed energy company announced on Tuesday (Aug 29). It also unveiled plans for 10 more prospective parks.
Sembcorp and Becamax have received an investment licence to develop a new 600-hectare industrial park in Lang Son province, and obtained in-principle approvals from Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to establish three more in the Thai Binh, Binh Thuan and Ha Tinh provinces.
This will bring the total number of Vietnam-Singapore industrial parks (VSIPs) in Sembcorp’s portfolio to 17, making it the largest collaboration between the two countries.
Chinese EV Maker Nio Reports Quarterly Loss, Slimmer Margin
Chinese electric carmaker Nio Inc. reported a wider-than-estimated loss in the second quarter as vehicle deliveries came in at the low end of the company’s target.
The automaker posted a net loss of 6.06 billion yuan ($831 million) in the three months ended June 30, it said in a statement Tuesday. That was wider than the average analyst estimate of 4.73 billion yuan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and more than double a 2.76 billion yuan loss in the same period last year.
Revenue dropped 14.8% to 8.77 billion yuan, as quarterly deliveries fell 6% to 23,520 vehicles, at the bottom of the company’s forecast. Gross margin continued to drop, down to 1% from 13% a year earlier and 1.5% in the previous quarter.