News

HDB resale prices up 0.3% in January

HDB resale prices up 0.3% in January

Five-room prices inched up by 1.2% and executive rooms rose by 0.9% YoY.

DBS completes first digital trade financing settlement on Networked Trade Platform

The trade relates to a $3.5m letter of credit transaction between Audi Singapore and Premium Automobiles. DBS Bank has successfully completed the first trade financing transaction on Singapore’s Networked Trade Platform (NTP) in collaboration with Audi Singapore (Audi) and Audi’s local distributor, Premium Automobiles (Premium). The inaugural trade relates to a $3.5m letter of credit transaction for a trade of Audi cars between Audi and Premium. By digitalising the process through the NTP, Audi and its retail partner Premium now have the capability to submit bank applications, as well as send and receive trade documents online. This enables DBS to receive and start processing the e-applications in real-time, cutting short the trade financing processing time from about a week to under one working day, yielding greater operational efficiencies for both buyer and seller. In addition, as trade documents are uploaded onto the NTP, all trade participants are able to enjoy real-time updates on the progress of their transaction, enabling them to better plan their working capital needs. The first transaction marks a critical step towards transforming documentary trade, of which domestic letters of credit constitute around US$150b of Singapore’s trade flows. DBS, Audi and Premium are currently working on the second trade on the NTP valued at $2.8m. DBS is also one of the key banks leading the Trade Finance Compliance (TFC) initiative, which is a digital service on the NTP to boost trade security in Singapore. Launched in September 2019, the TFC service aims to tackle trade finance compliance challenges by addressing obstacles faced by financial institutions when financing trade in Asia, such as trade fraud risks and the lack of reliable data to conduct price checks for non-commoditised goods – which often do not have established pricing benchmarks.

Elite Commercial REIT IPO oversubscribed 3.4 times

The IPO is expected to raise about $140.38m.

Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 1.38%

CapitaLand led the gains amongst top active stocks with a 2.75% leap.

Chart of the Day: Tech firms beat finance companies in filling office spaces in 9M 2019

The tech sector’s growth was partly attributed to Singapore’s strong IP rights protection.

Singapore dollar plunges after MAS' monetary easing announcement

The Singapore dollar dropped 0.9% to $1.3824 against the US dollar.

Buyback consideration hit $29.9m in January

OCBC bought back 750,000 shares for $8.25m.

Tech firm CSE Global clinched $230m of new orders in Q4

More than half of $190m was secured in its O&G sector.

SIAS refutes Utico's claims in Hyflux's town hall meeting

The UAE-based firm said that the association has not worked towards a better deal for P&P holders.

MAS' monetary policy stance to remain unchanged despite nCov impact

S$NEER is still said to be in line with weaknesses in Singapore’s economy.

IPOS and SGX to launch evaluation programme for intangible assets

It will be offered exclusively to SGX-listed companies or firms preparing for listing.

Singapore ranks 13th amongst top global cities

Cities were ranked according to their environmental, economic, and university impact.

Chart of the Day: Services sector headcounts rose to 53,700 in 2019

These slowed down to 13,300 in Q4 despite boosts in retail and F&B sectors from festive hiring.

Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 1.29%

CapitaLand led the gains amongst top active stocks with a 2.54% expansion.

Nearly 9 in 10 R&D professionals bullish about future of product development

Respondents cited the government’s support and clear direction that will boost R&D.