1 in 2 expects a salary to rely on.

More than half (64%) of Singaporeans said that they expect to rely on the Central Provident Fund (CPF) for financial support when they reach 62, a study by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) commissioned by Prudential revealed.

Aside from the CPF, 64% also expects to rely on other savings they have made in early life. In total, 78% of the respondents noted that they have saved money.

“Singapore’s government policies and cultural fabric encourage fiscal self-reliance through the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and other incentives,” the report noted.

Meanwhile, 61% are also looking forward to national medical insurances such as Medisave and MediShield to support them during old age. The study also found that 52% mentioned that they are rooting for their salary to support them financially by age 62.

“This expected reliance on a salary when the retirement age is still 62 indicates a future tension in residents’ ability to provide for themselves to 100,” the report said.

According to Institute of Policy Studies lead of demography and family cluster Christopher Gee, said tension could ‘accentuate inequalities’ in an ageing society such as Singapore. The Lion City has already seen most households headed by retirees falling into lower-income brackets, United Nations independent expert on ageing revealed.

“Currently, many older Singaporeans “retire” to jobs that are different or lower-status than other professional jobs they once held,” the study noted. “To maintain their working life earnings, people will need to invest more in their ability to be productive for longer, including keeping up their skills and networks.”
 

It was during one fine day in my trip at East Coast Park, when I decided to use a bike sharing app for the first time.

I thought I was a loyal customer to a local bicycle rental kiosk at the park where I would pay $8 for a two-hour ride. However, I was not. The bike sharing app offered me 10 free rides with no time limit. Well, simple maths will tell me to sacrifice customer loyalty to 10 free rides. Right? So, I took the bait, downloaded the app, scan my QR code and got on my first free ride. With a little sense of guilt, I cycled past by my favourite bicycle rental kiosk. I looked inside and saw many bicycles remained unrented. In my mind, I’m pretty sure that their businesses will be affected badly by what we called, disruptive technology.

Disruptive technology simply means disrupting an existing industry or norm with technology. It is so powerful that it will turn the norm into obsolescence. Many were affected by disruptive technology badly. We have taxi drivers are complaining about how apps like Uber and Grab drivers are snatching away their business. We have retailers, who continued to pay high rental fees, complaining about how ecommerce rivals and C2C (consumers-to-consumers) apps are invading their industry. The list is never-ending.

Being the marketing representative for several SMEs (small medium sized enterprises) in Asia, I was often tasked to recreate and revamp strategies to reset companies back on track in this age of disruptive technology. If you are a struggling small business owner who has been affected badly by disruptive technology, perhaps these tips can help you.

1) Reduce Business Costs
Profit margin matters for any business. A high profit margin may be caused by either higher sales volume or lower business costs. Look into your business and see what are the costs that you can omit. Is the rental too high for you? What operational costs you can omit by outsourcing to third parties? Think of ways where you can do more businesses at lower cost such as getting in E-commerce.

2) Work With Disruptive Technology
There is a saying, “if you can’t win beat, join them!” Check out how you can work with disruptive technology by looking at a win-win business strategy.

3) Build Your Brand Profile
Today, consumers may be able to buy similar products for a cheaper price online. So, what are the reasons for them to buy a similar product from you at a higher price? Hence, you need to understand what makes your brand different from others and then sell your brand story to the consumers. In times like this, you need to work a little harder in order to set some brand differentiation in the market.

4) Marketing, Marketing and Marketing
Marketing is an essential activity for any business. You need consistent marketing efforts to reach out to the right consumers. With the right marketing strategy, your business can grow exponentially. With the wrong marketing strategy, you can still reach somewhere but a slower pace. However, without a marketing strategy, your business will go nowhere.

5) Be the Disruptive Technology
Instead of waiting for the disruptive technology to disrupt your industry, why not think of becoming the disruptive technology? You are at a better advantage to create a superior app to compete with the existing disruptive technology. This is because you are more experienced and more aware about what’s going on in your industry. Therefore, start thinking of how you can win back the consumer market with a better disruptive technology, and do it as soon as possible!

To sum up these 5 business tips in one word, will be ‘CHANGE’. Do not be afraid if disruptive technology affect your business. Take a deep breath, face the challenge and come out with new business strategies to evolve and change with the tides. There is a saying, if we don’t change, we will be changed. Therefore, embrace change so that your business will continue to prosper!

The world of finance is huge and complex. There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to convey how the mechanics of the markets work, much less how the man on the street can profit from it. Or is there? If we were to discount the need to know the mechanics, in order to profit from it, and focus on the resulting price moves, we could actually consider Technical Analysis as the perfect tool for reading the markets.

And among the traders in Singapore, an in-depth knowledge of Technical Analysis is more common than not. Hence, earning ourselves the pseudo reputation as the Technical Analysis capital of the world. Candlestick patterns, chart patterns, and advanced indicators derived from price, the average retail trader in Singapore could tell you a lot about these just off the top of their heads. But what makes Technical Analysis seem so necessary for the average retail trader in Singapore?

Firstly, would be the impression that technical analysis seems to be easier to learn and understand than the likes of CAPM or Keynesian economics. The visual appeal of chart reading, with colourful indicator lines, makes it seem like child’s play.

Secondly the Singaporean population is also drawn to the idea of quick money. The general impression is that Technical Analysis is for shorter term trading, while Fundamental Analysis is only suited for longer term trading and not as appealing to the general public. The amount of research required to acquire, understand, and then make sense of the fundamental data takes a lot of time and skill. It is why super smart analysts at the banks are paid so much to produce their research reports.

This is also a natural push factor away from using Fundamental Analysis as most retail traders are not seeking this path when they take up trading or investing. Their goal is to generate returns, by trading and investing, without the intention of creating a second full-time job for themselves.

Technical Analysis also helps users make decisions in two ways. One is by reducing decisions to be made, and another is by providing visual cues to alert users that a decision point is approaching. Acting as a visual guide to traders makes Technical Analysis an invaluable tool. However, the difficulty lies in terms of decision making with information taken purely from the charts.

There are many advantages to using Technical Analysis. It’s quick, generally straight forward, and rules can be built easily and visually. However, trading profitably over the long run requires these technical skills to be augmented with context from something more robust. That “something” is usually company financials or macroeconomic news and numbers. Even macro news events can be a robust and valuable contextual overview to have when trading.

For example at this current moment, the US Federal Reserve has reiterated its stand to continue raising rates. This is a clear message that they think the US economy will continue to do well. That then allows Technical Analysis users to have a stronger conviction when they come to bullish conclusions in their chart reading analysis.

How did our small island state become so enamoured with the allure of Technical Analysis? A unique reason has probably got to do with the low liquidity in our markets, which makes it more difficult for large investors to hide their footsteps. While we have an incredibly high penetration of the internet amongst the population, this speed of information will never be faster than observing what the “big boys” are doing, from the foot prints they leave on the charts.

By the time we read about it in the papers, chances are the stock has already had some sort of movement.

Expect a correction in the local market today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 2.59 points or 0.08% lower to 3318.08 on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date performance to +15.18%.

SGX's market summary noted that top active stocks yesterday were DBS, which declined 0.62%; Singtel, which declined 1.05%; Global Logistic, which closed unchanged; YZJ Shipbldg SGD, which gained 4.71%; and CapitaLand, with a 1.31% fall.

According to OCBC Investment Research, the U.S. stocks closed down but off session lows as tensions between North Korea and the U.S. added a dollop of geopolitical uncertainty to markets, and as high-profile companies disappointed with their quarterly results.

Meanwhile, four out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended lower, with Utilities (-0.49%) and Consumer Discretionary (-0.47%) leading the losses while Health Care (0.16%) led the gains. 

"The weakness on Wall Street overnight could spark a similar correction in the local bourse today," the brokerage firm said.  

Thanks to strong contributions from Principal Garden.

UOL Group announced a strong set of results for the past quarter ending in June, with net profit soaring 78% to 121.8m.

This came with net attributable profit climbing up 59% to $109.4m. According to the group, this is due mainly to the higher progressive recognition of revenue from Principal Garden, a condominium project in Singapore, a higher share of profit from associated companies and fair value gains on investment properties.

Attributable fair value gains and other gains totalled $9.2m against $21.5m losses in the previous corresponding quarter caused substantially by the increase in valuation of Novena Square and United Square.

Group revenue rose 10% to $399.1m in the second quarter. Property development, which accounted for 55% of Group revenue, posted a robust 19% increase to $221.2m. Besides Principal Garden, other projects which contributed to Group revenue included Botanique at Bartley and Riverbank@Fernvale.

Meanwhile, revenue from investment properties edged up two per cent to $56.4m and included rental from 110 High Holborn in midtown London, which UOL acquired in June 2016. The Group’s hospitality business including management services was mostly flat with the topline at $105.6m against $106.2m in the previous corresponding period.

During the quarter under review, Group expenses increased to $63.8m from $62.8m in the previous corresponding period. Marketing and distribution expenses declined by two per cent to $16.0m, finance expense increased 22% to $9.3m, whilst other operating expenses fell six per cent to $18.7m.
 

The startup rented out 1,000 defective vehicles to Singapore drivers.

Bloomberg Technology reported that Uber’s auto-lending program is facing new questions after the company leased cars prone to fires in Singapore.

Citing Wall Street Journal, the report noted that the ride-hailing firm borrowed capital from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other banks used to purchase more than 1,000 defective Honda Motor Co. vehicles from importers. Uber managers in Singapore were aware that Honda had recalled the Vezel models when it bought and leased them to drivers, and at least one car burst into flames in January, the newspaper reported.

Uber said it took “swift action to fix the problem” after learning of the auto fire and worked with Singapore officials on its response.

Read more here.

It eyes revamping Resorts World Sentosa.

Despite posting decent results in the first six months of the year, Genting Singapore remains cautious on its business outlook and looks forward to partnering with the government to boost visitor arrivals.

According to UOB Kay Hian analyst Vincent Khoo, Genting Singapore is working on a 5-year roadmap to strengthen Resorts World Sentosa's appeal as a lifestyle destination.

"No details have been revealed but management shared that it is currently in talks with government on the matter and hopeful to provide more information by end-2017," the analyst said.

Meanwhile, Genting Singapore cited uncertainties at its target markets such as China tightening policy on capital outflow, and Malaysia market sentiment possibly being affected by the upcoming election and continuously weak ringgit.
 

This will be available at selected locations.

Singtel will be launching near-gigabit speeds on its LTE Advanced network at selected high-traffic outdoor locations across the island, starting with Orchard Road.

At 800Mbps, it is Southeast Asia’s fastest gigabit-class LTE mobile data peak speed, delivering up to 60% faster download speeds than prevailing LTE services.

The near-gigabit transmission speeds are achieved by scaling pre-5G technology solutions, 4x4 multiple-input multiple-output (4x4 MIMO) and 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), coupled with triple carrier aggregation of spectrum exclusive to Singtel.

As the state enforces vocational license framework.

There could be a drop in driver supply for private hire cars as the Land Transport Authority implements the Private Hire Car Driver’s Vocational Licence (PDVL) framework.

RHB analyst Shekhar Jaiswal said that around 15% to 20% of the private hire car fleet was taken off the road due to the implementation of the PDVL.

"Reasons cited by PHC drivers for the likely reduction in the fleet size include drivers unwilling to display decals on self-owned vehicles, and delays in part-time drivers acquiring the PDVL," Jaiswal noted.

Citing reports from the media, he indicated that only 27,000 private hire cars, or around 63% of the total population, had decals affixed.

"We have long stated that the implementation of the PDVL would limit the PHC driver supply, especially due to its course requirements, employment terms related to the nationality of the driver, and PHC cars being registered and identified with a tamper-proof decal," he noted.
 

And here's the latest addition to the burgeoning meal-sharing industry in Singapore.

From CNBC via Yahoo!: Singapore's sole stock exchange is gunning for more initial public offerings from technology firms as it seeks to alter perception that the city-state is an attractive listing destination only for real estate investment trusts (REITs). To do that, it has tied up with the city state's technology and media regulator to help young tech companies in Singapore prepare to list on the exchange.

From Shares Investment via Yahoo!: With a market price of $1.30 at 22 May, SingPost has lost a whopping 39.3 percent of its market price along the correction. This stands in stark contrast to the strong rally when China’s e-commerce giant, Alibaba, acquired a 10.3 percent stake in SingPost (its stake has since been raised to 14.4 percent as at October 2016) and signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint venture in international e-commerce logistics back in March 2014. The move boosted SingPost’s share price to a closing high of $2.14 in January 2015 amidst optimism outlook of SingPost transforming into a global e-commerce powerhouse.

From Vulcan Post via Yahoo!: Founded by celebrity chef Eric Teo and foodtrepreneur Luke Lee last month, Dine Inn is the latest addition to the burgeoning meal-sharing industry in Singapore. This duo is undoubtedly well-versed in the food and beverage (F&B) industry. Luke for one, is currently involved in 7 F&B outlets and is running his own hawker stall selling handmade ‘chee cheong fun’. He also organises F&B events such as Singapore Food Festival, as well as imports and distributes wine and spirits.

Customers are shifting to alternative online services.

Analysts at UOB KayHian observed a structural decline in Singapore Post's postal segment.

The shift in revenue mix towards lower-margin international business saw postal operating profit decline 4.2% YoY.

They noted that with the steeper decrease in domestic mail revenue at 8% YoY, the decline in the domestic mail has not eased just yet.

"Going forward, we expect mail operating margins to remain suppressed as domestic mail revenue continues to be impacted by e-statements implementation and the shift to alternative online services," the analysts said.
 

Palm products bolstered up yields.

Bumitama Agri reported a rise in net profit for the past quarter, up 21.4% to $29.3m (IDR 278.4b).

This came as headline rose 40.7% to $220.7m (IDR2.1t). According to the group, the growth in both headline and bottom line was mainly due to the higher sales price of palm products as well as biodiesel compared to the previous corresponding period.

The group reported a 44.8% increase in the cost of sales to $157m (IDR1.5t). The increase was mainly attributable to higher production volume, purchase price of external FFB, and fertiliser.

Here's more from the group:

Interest Income

Interest income decreased by 31.0% to IDR 36 billion in 1Q2017 mainly due to lower interest income earned from advances given to the plasma farmers and lower interest income from time deposits.

General and administrative expense

General and administrative expense increased by 18.6% to IDR 80 billion in 1Q2017 mainly due to increase in salaries & employee benefits, training & personnel and professional fees expenses.

Foreign Exchange Gain

The Group recorded a net foreign exchange gain of IDR 11 billion in 1Q2017 which was mainly due to translation gains on the USD denominated borrowings in the Group’s IDR financial statements as a result of the appreciation of IDR against USD during the period.

Other expenses

Other expenses amounting to IDR 9 billion in 1Q2017 mainly consist of witholding tax expense on interest received by the Company from its subsidiaries.

Other income

Other income amounting to IDR 7 billion in 1Q2017 mainly consist of premium from sales of certified Palm Kernel as well as income from insurance claim received during the period.

Income tax expense

The Group recorded an increase in income tax expense to IDR 91 billion in 1Q2017 compared to IDR 74 billion in 1Q2016 which was in line with the higher profit before income tax.
 

On average, they have paid 29% premium at auctions.

After three years of price declines, residential property sector should be able to see a turnaround with the number of developers amassing plots of land.

According to a Bloomberg report, developers are becoming more aggressive in bidding at land auctions. On average, they’ve paid a 29% premium, the highest level in at least five years.

Read more here.

Around 3,300 jobs were made available for IT professionals.

A study by JobTech revealed that there is an increase of more than 700 unique online job postings in Singapore's ICT sector in 1Q17, up from last quarter's recorded job posting of around 2,600.

Looking at the average number of unique online job postings per month, 1Q17 recorded slightly over 1,100 online job postings per month while 4Q16 recorded slightly over 850 online job postings per month, on average.

"Whilst there is a possible seasonal effect due to hiring patterns in the beginning of the calendar year over the end of the calendar year; generally a positive uplift is observed in the number of online job postings from January to March 2017 for the ICT sector, with March recording the highest number of online job postings in the first quarter of 2017," JobTech said.

The study revealed that 30% of the job postings recorded in the quarter are looking for candidates with specific skill sets such as general computer skills, communication skills, understanding of IT and business, science and technology, and software products.

The table below shows the top skills sought by online job postings in Singapore ICT sector:

Blame the impairments for TradeGlobal.

It was a disappointing quarter for Singapore Post after it swung to a net loss of $65.2m in Q4 of its financial year 2017, impacted by a $205.7m impairment of intangible assets mainly for TradeGlobal and offset by $108.7m fair value gains in investment properties.

According to OCBC Investment Research, excluding these one-off items, underlying net profit was $21.4m. This would have brought full year underlying net profit to $115.6m, lower than the $153.6m net profit last year.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

On a segmental basis, the postal division saw a 4.2% decline in operating profit to S$150.7m in FY17, while logistics saw a 39.2% drop to S$23.6m. eCommerce incurred an operating loss of S$33.8m vs. S$7.3m in FY16.

The overall landscape is competitive, while eCommerce also met a setback in TradeGlobal, which lost key customers. In the fast-moving world of eCommerce, it is currently unclear to us if this segment can turn in a net profit by FY19.

On a positive note, the new SPC mall will open up in phases from Sep this year. We will also be monitoring the improvement in volumes from the collaboration with Alibaba.
 

As it carries out internal restructuring.

Following a great start to the year, agribusiness firm Wilmar is eyeing to carry out an internal restructuring of its China operations.

According to OCBC Investment Research, it also considers the possibility of a separate listing. It added that the internal restructuring may take about 18 months.

Wilmar's China operations contribute around half of the group's revenue. "For a sense of presence, they are the largest edible oils refiner, a leading oilseed crusher as well as producer of branded consumer pack oils, rice and flour."

The brokerage firm noted that in particular, the flour and rice businesses are key expansion areas outlined by the group.
 

The local sentiment could be cautious today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 15.82 points or 0.48% lower to 3255.29 on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to +13.00%.

According to the SGX Market Summary, the top active stocks were Singtel, which closed unchanged, Wilmar Intl, which gained 9.62%, Noble Group, which declined 24.00%, DBS, which declined 1.19% and OCBC Bank, with a 0.10% fall.

This came as both the DJIA and S&P 500 Index on Friday snapped a three-week streak of gains, while the Nasdaq ended the fourth week in a row higher, a report from OCBC Investment Research noted.

It added, "With quarterly results concluding, attention may turn towards the uncertain political environment in the U.S."

Meanwhile, nine out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended lower, with Industrials (-0.65%) and Financials (-0.45%) leading the declines while Utilities (0.51%) and Information Technology (0.32%) led the gains. For the week, the index was up 0.35%.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

The mixed performance on Wall Street last Friday could cause local sentiment to be fairly cautious today.

With the breaking of the key 3260 resistance yesterday, we peg the new hurdle at 3300, ahead of 3365.

On the downside, we peg the immediate support at 3250, followed by the next support level at 3200.

Overall volume jumped 2.6% with 2.2b units traded, while total value dipped 22.5% to S$1.4b, and average value/unit dropped 26.4% to S$0.64.