Market Forecast
The Singapore stock market has climbed higher in five straight sessions, jumping almost 60 points or 2 percent along the way. The Straits Times Index now sits just shy of the 3,215-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Tuesday.
The STI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the industrial stocks and financial shares and a mixed picture from the property sector.
For the day, the index improved 23.80 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 3,213.68 after trading between 3,200.04 and 3,231.40.
Among the actives, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding surged 2.91 percent, while Keppel Corp soared 2.54 percent, SembCorp Industries and DFI Retail both spiked 1.67 percent, Emperador stumbled 0.98 percent, DBS Group rallied 0.97 percent, SingTel jumped 0.85 percent, Frasers Logistics sank 0.85 percent, Wilmar International climbed 0.85 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation collected 0.81 percent, SATS and Comfort DelGro both advanced 0.79 percent, Seatrium added 0.70 percent, Mapletree Pan Asia lost 0.65 percent, Hongkong Land fell 0.56 percent, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 0.53 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rose 0.52 percent, CapitaLand Investment slid 0.32 percent, City Developments perked 0.30 percent and Mapletree Logistics Trust, Genting Singapore, Yangzijiang Financial, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Thai Beverage and Mapletree Industrial Trust were unchanged.
Local News to Watch
Presidential candidates pitch strengths, ideas in televised forum
Singapore’s presidential candidates shared their plans if elected and made their pitch to voters in a televised forum by CNA on Monday (Aug 28), the seventh day of campaigning in the lead-up to the Sep 1 election.
For the first time since hitting the election trail, all three presidential hopefuls were gathered in the same place, and took turns to field the same questions.
Singapore, Vietnam must work together to maintain Asean centrality, uphold stability: PM Lee
AMID rising geopolitical tensions, Singapore and Vietnam must work even closer together to maintain Asean centrality and uphold a rules-based multilateral order, said Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (Aug 28).
As fellow Asean members, both countries share a stake in the stability and prosperity of the region, said PM Lee in a toast speech at a dinner hosted by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, in Hanoi’s Office of Government Building.
All banking services restored after ‘technical problem’ affected services, says OCBC
OCBC said all its banking services have been restored as at 12.21 pm on Monday (Aug 28).
Earlier on Monday morning, the OCBC mobile app was down for a few hours, with users unable to log in or access any of the bank’s digital services. The bank’s other services, such as ATM withdrawals and card access, were also disrupted.
A message on the app in the morning said it was experiencing “network issues” and that all its banking services were unavailable.
Singapore exploring new tools to manage significant investments in critical entities
Singapore is exploring “new tools” to “manage significant investments into critical entities”, Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong told media on Monday (Aug 28), without elaborating on what form this might take.
“Going forward, we will need to strengthen Singapore’s position as a trusted hub for businesses to invest with confidence,” he said. “And to do that, we will need to make sure that investments into critical entities do not affect Singapore’s economic resilience and our national security interest.”
He noted that “many countries around the world are already doing this”, without specifying what he meant.
Nio signs partnership deal with Singapore hospitality operator Ascott
Nio Power, Nio's energy business unit, signed an agreement on August 27 with the Chinese arm of Singapore-based hospitality operator The Ascott Limited to work together on building charging and battery swap infrastructure and enhancing user experience for both companies, according to a post the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker posted on its mobile app.
Ascott is a wholly owned lodging business unit of Singaporean real estate giant CapitaLand Investment, with operations in more than 220 cities across more than 40 countries in Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the US.
In China, Ascott currently owns and manages over 200 properties in 42 cities, according to the article in the Nio App.