Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Thursday. STI rose over 1%; UMS drops 1%; JMH USD drops over 4%, Singtel and OCBC Bank edge up 0.7% while DBS gains 0.5%.

Stocks in Focus

The following companies saw developments that may affect the trading of their securities on Thursday (Jun 18):

Centurion: The group on Wednesday said it has acquired 25 per cent equity interest in a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) development in Perth for A$250,000 (S$225,475). This is the company’s second investment in the city, after buying a stake in a 472-bed Stirling Highway PBSA development last December. The remaining 75 per cent share of the property is held by Centurion Properties Australia Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of the group’s controlling shareholder. The counter ended Wednesday 1.3 per cent or S$0.002 higher at S$1.51, before the news.

Far East: The company on Thursday said it acquired 705,000 shares in Eden Refrigeration Manufacturing (Jiangsu) (ERM), which represents about 7.1 per cent of the total issued and paid-up share capital of ERM. Once this move is completed, this will see the group holding a 91.3 per cent equity interest in ERM. Shares of Far East Group ended flat at S$0.11, before the announcement.

Trading halt: Both Lum Chang and Lum Chang Creat called for trading halts with immediate effect on Thursday morning, pending the release of an announcement. Shares of LCH ended Wednesday 1 per cent up at S$0.515, while LCC shares closed flat at S$0.83.

SG Local News

AI demand to keep Singapore’s export growth robust despite Middle East uncertainty: economists

Artificial intelligence-related demand is expected to continue supporting Singapore’s key export growth in the coming months, with a potential US-Iran peace deal offering further upside, said private sector economists on Wednesday (Jun 17).

This comes after the city-state’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) surged 38.4 per cent year on year in May, the fastest expansion in more than two decades.

May’s figure also outperformed economists’ median forecast of 30.5 per cent year-on-year growth, a Bloomberg poll showed.

Economists raise inflation projections, lower growth forecasts in first MAS survey since Iran war

Private-sector economists raised their 2026 inflation forecasts sharply, while slightly lowering their growth expectations, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) latest quarterly survey of professional forecasters released on Wednesday (Jun 17) indicated.

The full-year median forecasts came in at 2.3 per cent for headline inflation and 2 per cent for core inflation, both up from 1.5 per cent in the March survey.

With these increases, the economists’ predictions are closer to the upper end of the authorities’ 1.5 to 2.5 per cent forecast range for both headline and core inflation.