Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened lower on Thursday. STI fell 0.27%; Sri Trang Agro, AEM SGD up over 2%; UMS, ST Engineering, ThaiBev, Olam Group up over 1%.

Stocks in Focus

UOB: The bank on Thursday said it priced a one billion euro (US$1.2 billion) dual-tranche covered bond transaction across two-year and five-year tenors, the first offering of its kind by an Asian issuer. The issuance generated “exceptionally strong” demand, with order books peaking at over 4.25 billion euros, allowing the bank to significantly tighten pricing and achieve highly attractive funding costs. UOB shares fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.16 to close at S$40.95 on Wednesday.

ST Engineering: The group’s urban solutions business on Wednesday said it secured a S$750 million turnkey rail services contract in August for the extension of a metro line in Taoyuan, a municipality in northwestern Taiwan. The seven-year project will begin in Q4 this year. The counter ended Wednesday down 1.2 per cent or S$0.13 at S$10.58, before the news.

Sembcorp Industries: The group on Thursday said its Indian renewables unit filed draft prospectus papers for an initial public offering in Mumbai that could raise as much as US$500 million. If completed, the proposed share sale will be Sembcorp Green Infra’s second attempt to list publicly after a previous attempt in 2018. Shares of Sembcorp rose 1.2 per cent or S$0.07 to close at S$6.12 on Wednesday.

Thomson Medical: The healthcare operator on Wednesday posted a net loss of S$19.5 million for its second half ended Jun 30, down from a net loss of S$34.7 million for the previous corresponding period. It came on the back of a 48.7 per cent reduction in other operating expenses to S$61.3 million, from S$119.4 million a year before. The group said this was mainly due to a lower impairment loss on goodwill arising from its acquisition of Far East Medical Vietnam. Thomson Medical shares ended 1.9 per cent or S$0.001 higher at S$0.054 on Wednesday, before the results were released.

SG Local News

AI Startup That Upends Junior Bankers’ Work Sets Up in Singapore

An AI startup that counts some of the world’s largest investment banks among its clients is hiring staff in key Asian hubs, betting that more of the region’s financial firms are ready to embed the technology deeper into their operations.

Rogo Technologies Inc. has made Singapore the hub of its Asia-Pacific expansion strategy, according to John Willett, the New York-based firm’s co-founder and chief operating officer. The platform, which became popular for taking on much of the grunt work done by junior bankers such as automating spreadsheets and slide work, is opening an office in the city-state and hiring staff as it grows to tackle other areas in banking.

Singapore's Asset Management Ambitions Face Next Test as Industry Seeks Speed and Clarity

Greater clarity, speed and workable rules are among requests that industry players have in Singapore’s latest push to boost its asset management landscape, as they await crucial details on who qualifies and how the schemes work.

The measures have been widely welcomed as a timely response to competing initiatives from Hong Kong. But observers said their effectiveness will ultimately depend on how quickly Singapore translates the broad proposals into practical rules.

“The sooner the details are shared the better; certainty drives these decisions more than the headlines,” said Etelka Bogardi, partner at law firm Reed Smith.