Market Snapshot
Singapore stocks opened higher on Wednesday. STI rose 0.14%; Golden Agri-Res, China Aviation, Hong Leong Asia, Cent Accom REIT, OCBC Bank up around 1%; Singtel, iFast, SATS down slightly.
Stocks in Focus
Singapore Airlines (SIA): The national carrier on Tuesday said its passenger traffic for August was up 1.5 per cent year on year at 13.8 million revenue passenger-kilometre on “healthy demand”. Its passenger capacity rose 3.5 per cent to 16 million available seat kilometres, and the number of passengers carried was up 3.6 per cent at 3.7 million across the same time frame. Growth in both passenger traffic and capacity was mainly in East Asia, Europe and the South-west Pacific. The counter closed 0.3 per cent or S$0.02 lower at S$6.61 prior to the update.
EGP Energy: An indirect wholly owned subsidiary of EGP Energy has entered into a joint venture agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia-listed UUE for an initial paid-up capital of RM1 million (US$245,314). This is EGP Energy’s first overseas market entry since its listing on Jul 29. The joint venture company will be incorporated in Malaysia; EGP Infrastructure Investments will hold a 60 per cent equity stake in it, and Kum Fatt Engineering will hold the remaining 40 per cent. Shares of EGP Energy closed 2.7 per cent or S$0.02 lower at S$0.715 on Tuesday before the news.
Q&M Dental: The company on Tuesday said it received in-principle approval from the Singapore Exchange for the listing of 16.4 million new consideration shares. The issue price of S$0.70 a share represents a premium of 25.7 per cent over the volume-weighted average price of the shares of S$0.557 on Jul 9. That was the last day of trading before it announced plans to buy 51 per cent of Deezy Q&M Dental Group through a holding structure. Shares of Q&M Dental were flat at S$0.52 before the news.
SG Local News
Singapore Reviewing Report on Officials’ Home-Buying Patterns
Singapore said it’s reviewing a research paper that alleged the city-state’s civil servants disproportionately bought homes near planned subway stations that weren’t yet publicly announced to generate “meaningful private gains.”
The Public Service Division takes any integrity concerns “extremely seriously,” a spokesperson said in response to Bloomberg News’ queries.
The division is reviewing the data and methodology used in the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, and will refer it to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau if there is a material basis to do so, the spokesperson said.
Singapore Home Sales Fall as ‘Hungry Ghost’ Keeps Buyers Away
Singapore new home sales fell in August as developers delayed launches during a period seen to be inauspicious for property purchases.
Developers sold 153 new private units last month, the fewest since February 2024, according to figures released Tuesday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. That compares with 731 homes sold in July and 2,142 a year earlier.
The drop was widely expected because it was during the Hungry Ghost festival in the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Developers routinely push launches into the weeks before or after the period, which this year began in mid-August and ran through Sept. 10.
Grab to Acquire Majority Stake in BNPL Platform Atome for US$1.5 Billion
Grab announced on Tuesday (Sep 15) that it will acquire a 60 per cent stake in Atome Financial from Advance Intelligence Group for US$1.5 billion in cash.
The buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform will combine its BNPL loans, consumer cash loans and digital lending with Grab’s financial services business, and gain access to customers in Grab’s ecosystem.
For Grab, the acquisition will accelerate the growth of its financial services business, including a scaled-up BNPL platform for consumer lending. The move also strengthens the flywheel effect on its ecosystem, said the super-app in a statement.