To The Moon

Singapore shares extended the previous day’s gains on Friday (Feb 16), staying in positive territory throughout the trading session, including during Finance Minister Lawrence Wong’s Budget 2024 speech. For the week, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) was up 2.67 per cent or 83.64 points to 3,221.94.

Here are the things to pay attention to this week:

Singapore to Provide Cost of Living Handouts to Fight Inflation

Singapore will offer a special cost of living payment of up to S$400 ($297) to qualified citizens to help offset inflation, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Friday.

Adult Singaporeans who do not own more than one property and with incomes not exceeding S$100,000 will get a payment of between S$200 and S$400 as part of the government’s proposed budget, Wong, who’s also the finance minister, told parliament during his budget report.

The budget would also allot an additional S$600 to all Singaporean households in so-called Community Development Council vouchers meant to help Singaporeans cope with daily expenses, according to Wong, who announced a raft of new support measures to households and companies.

Singapore Home Sales Off to Slowest Start of the Year Since 2009

Singapore home sales posted the weakest January sales since 2009, adding to signs that the property boom is fading.

Developers sold 281 new private homes last month, according to figures released Thursday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. While that was up from 135 in December, it was the slowest start since the global financial crisis deterred buyers 15 years ago.

The muted rebound from December is likely to fuel growing concern among developers about flagging demand. While Singapore has avoided downturns that afflicted other cities such as Hong Kong, sales have been on a downward trend since the government introduced measures to cool the market and rising interest rates began to bite.

Singapore Economy Grows 2.2% Y/Y in Q4, Lower Than Estimate

Singapore's economy grew 2.2% on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2023, government data showed on Thursday, lower than the advanced growth estimate of 2.8% released last month.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, seasonally-adjusted basis, gross domestic product $(GDP)$ expanded 1.2% in the October-December period, compared with 1.7% in advanced estimates.

The trade ministry maintained its GDP growth forecast for 2024 at 1.0% to 3.0%.

DBS obtains licence to underwrite non-financial corporate bonds in China

DBS China has received a licence to underwrite debt financing instruments for non-financial enterprises, including foreign issuers, in China’s interbank bond market.

The lender said it is the first South-east Asia headquartered bank to secure such a licence, which was awarded by China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors.

It will enable non-financial enterprises outside of China to tap the world’s second-largest bond market, by leveraging DBS’ “track record in helping foreign governments and agencies, supranational organisations, and financial institutions”, said the group on Wednesday (Feb 14).

Changi Airport begins installing Singapore’s largest rooftop solar panel system

Changi Airport Group (CAG) has appointed Keppel to design and operate a solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the rooftop areas of Changi Airport. The system will have a combined generation capacity of 43MWp; 38MWp will be installed on rooftops – reportedly making this Singapore’s largest single-site rooftop solar PV system.

The remaining 5MWp of solar generation capacity will come from a solar PV system installed on a 40,000m2 turf area within Changi Airport’s airfield outside of aircraft operational areas. This will be the first solar PV system to be installed on Changi’s airfield. Keppel has been contracted to operate the system for 25 years.