Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Friday. STI rose 0.02%; NIO rose 3%; SingPost rose 1%; DBS rose 0.3%; Wilmar fell 3%; SIA fell 0.5%.

Stocks in Focus

SingPost: The postal service provider on Thursday said it has named Mark Chong as its group chief executive officer, with his appointment effective Nov 1. He is currently Singtel’s group chief corporate officer – a role he was designated in January this year. He is also a board member of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and chairman of the regulator’s Cyber and Data Governance Committee. Shares of SingPost closed flat at S$0.425, before the announcement.

CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT): The manager announced on Thursday that CICT’s wholly owned subsidiary CMT MTN has issued S$300 million worth of fixed rate notes to institutional and accredited investors. The notes were issued under the US$7 billion euro medium-term note programme established in March 2010. They will mature on Sep 27, 2032, and will bear interest at 2.25 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually. Units of CICT ended 1.3 per cent or S$0.03 lower at S$2.26, before the announcement.

Wilmar International: The mainboard-listed company on Thursday announced that the Indonesian Supreme Court overturned the prior acquittals of the group and two Indonesian palm oil companies – Permata Hijau and Musim Mas – in a graft case involving cooking oil export permits during the 2021 to 2022 shortage crisis. The parties were accused of illegally profiting from the evasion of state-imposed export controls on cooking oil and palm oil. The Indonesian Attorney-General’s Office is seeking an 11.8 trillion rupiah (S$907 million) compensation and a billion rupiah fine from Wilmar. The counter closed 0.7 per cent or S$0.02 down at S$2.89, before the news.

Sheng Siong: Its wholly owned subsidiary CMM Marketing Management on Wednesday accepted an offer by JTC for the lease of a land lot in Sungei Kadut Street 1. The supermarket operator said on Thursday that it plans to use the 61,297 square metre property to build a new warehouse, a distribution centre and headquarters to replace its facilitiy in Mandai Link, which has been assigned to MDL Property, its other wholly owned unit. Shares of Sheng Siong finished Thursday S$0.01 or 0.5 per cent higher at S$2.11.

SG Local News

Singapore Threatens Fines for Meta over Facebook Impersonation Scams

The Singapore government said on Thursday it has given Meta Platforms until the end of this month to introduce measures including facial recognition to help curb impersonation scams on Facebook.

Meta faces a fine of up to S$1 million ($776,639) if it fails to comply "without reasonable excuse", the ministry of home affairs said in a statement, adding failure to do so would result in fines of up to S$100,000 for each day after the deadline.

The ministry said the directive was issued to Meta on Wednesday.

Wilmar Found Guilty of Corruption as Indonesia’s Supreme Court Overturns Previous Acquittal

Singapore-based global palm oil company Wilmar International has been found guilty of corruption after Indonesia’s Supreme Court overturned the company’s previous acquittal in a graft case involving cooking oil export permits during the 2021-2022 shortage crisis.

Founded by Singaporean tycoon Kuok Khoon Hong, the mainboard-listed company said in a bourse filing on Thursday (Sep 25) that the Supreme Court overturned the previous acquittals of the group and two Indonesian palm oil companies – Permata Hijau and Musim Mas.

The companies were accused of illegally profiting from the evasion of state-imposed export controls on cooking oil and palm oil.

Centurion Accommodation Reit Closes 9.1% Above IPO Price on SGX Debut

Units of Centurion Accommodation Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) rose 9.1 per cent on Thursday (Sep 25) at its debut on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

The counter opened at S$0.98 at 2 pm, S$0.10 higher than its initial public offering (IPO) price of S$0.88 per unit. It later dipped to S$0.96, closing S$0.08 above its IPO price, with 82.1 million units having changed hands.

This was the second-biggest mainboard listing on the SGX this year, following NTT DC Reit’s listing in July.