Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened lower on Wednesday. STI fell 0.5%, SIA rose 0.2%, DBS and UOB fell 0.6%, SingTel fell 2%, Seatrium fell 1.2%, Keppel fell 0.4%.

Stocks to Watch

Seatrium (S51): The offshore and marine engineering group has secured S$350 million worth of contracts to be completed by end-2025. On Wednesday, Seatrium said the contract works include upgrading and converting liquefied natural gas carriers into floating storage regasification units. Its shares ended Tuesday S$0.003 or 3.4 per cent lower at S$0.084.

OCBC (O39): The bank is said to be exploring a redevelopment of its Chulia Street property, which sits on more than 120,000 square feet of land in Singapore’s Central Business District. On Wednesday, The Business Times reported that JLL was appointed as a partner for the job. Shares of OCBC ended Tuesday S$0.08 or 0.6 per cent higher at S$13.64.

Dyna-Mac (NO4): The offshore oil and gas contractor on Wednesday said it secured several contracts that bring its total net order book to a record S$896 million, with project deliveries stretching until 2026. Among these is a project to construct process modules, which the group said marks “the largest-ever contract win in Dyna-Mac’s history”. Shares of the group ended Tuesday up S$0.015 or 4 per cent at S$0.39.

Trading halt: Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments (5RA) requested a trading halt on Wednesday morning, pending the release of an announcement. The counter ended the prior day unchanged at S$0.001. 

SG Local News

Singapore Hands Down First Conviction in $2.2 Billion Money Laundering Case

A defendant in Singapore's biggest-ever money laundering case was sentenced to 13 months in prison on Tuesday, the first conviction for an investigation that grabbed headlines after billions in luxury properties, cars and gold bars were seized.

Defendant Su Wenqiang, a Cambodian national, was sentenced to 13 months imprisonment for two counts of money laundering, Singapore police said in a statement.

Su had pleaded guilty in a Singapore district court to 11 charges that also included taking proceeds from illegal remote gambling and lying to get work passes for himself and his wife, Channel NewsAsia reported.

Singapore Widens Crypto Rules to Cover Custody, More Transfers

Singapore expanded the scope of its digital-asset rules to cover the custody of tokens as well as more firms involved in fund transfers, part of the city-state’s effort to develop an institutional hub for the industry.

The changes to the Payment Services Act take effect in stages from April 4 and seek “to impose user protection and financial stability-related requirements,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement on Tuesday.

Officials had already signaled plans to bring custody and more crypto-adjacent transfer services into the regulatory net. Singapore was stung by blowups in 2022 stemming from unfettered crypto speculation and has since reshaped regulations to spur productive uses of blockchain technology.

Singapore's Only Olympic Champion Schooling Retires

Joseph Schooling, the swimmer who won Singapore's first and to date only Olympic gold medal in 2016, announced on Tuesday that he had retired from the pool at the age of 28.

Known in the city state as "Singapore's Flying Fish", Schooling stunned the swimming world when he beat his boyhood hero Michael Phelps to win the 100 metres butterfly with a time of 50.39 seconds at the Rio Olympics.

Schooling found it difficult to match that level of global success after 2016, winning a solitary bronze medal at the 2017 world championships and crashing out in the heats in his title defence at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.