Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Thursday. STI rose 0.4%; Singtel, HPH Trust, Golden Agri-Res up 2%; OUEREIT, Tencent HK SDR, Kep Infra Tr up over 1%.

Stocks in Focus

ST Engineering: The group said on Thursday (Jul 17) that its wholly owned subsidiary ST Engineering Urban Solutions and Singapore Power are selling their joint venture SPTel to AQX for S$290 million. The buyer is an investment platform owned by fund manager Seraya Partners. The proposed transaction is expected to close in Q4 of 2025. The counter ended Wednesday 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 higher at S$8.34.

Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust: The real estate investment trust will be divesting an office building in Melbourne’s Central Business District for A$192.1 million (S$161.4 million). It wants to exit the Melbourne office market and focus on logistics and industrial properties. The valuation features a 0.6 per cent premium over an indepdent valuation of the building, said the manager of FCT in a bourse filing on Wednedsay. The shares of FLCT closed Wednesday 0.59 per cent or S$0.0050 higher at S$0.86.

mm2 Asia: Struggling entertainment firm mm2 Asia is seeking to delay a S$54 million bond repayment by six years to the end of Dec 2031. The proposal aims to avoid imminent default and involves a higher interest at 6 per cent per annum, up from 5 per cent. The move to preserve cash will also give mm2 Asia control of the subsidiary mm Connect. The cinema chain owned by mm2 Asia, Cathay Cineplexes, was also given new demands to pay its S$3.3 million debt to the landlords of Century Square and Causeway Point. The counter ended 16.67% or S$0.0010 higher at S$0.0070.

$HRnetGroup(CHZ.SI0$: Recruitment agency HRnetGroup appointed 10 new business leader co-owners on Wednesday after some existing ones retired and left the firm. Its total number of co-owners stands at 45. Co-owners can make operating decisions for the group, which provides shared services including finance, HR and IT, and more. Shares of HRnetGroup were unchanged at close on Wednesday.

Ossia International: The joint offerors looking to privatise the group at S$0.16 per share do not intend to increase their offer price, the company said in a Wednesday bourse filing. The controlling shareholders of the company - executive chairman Goh Ching Wah, chief executive Goh Ching Huat and non-executive director Goh Ching Lai - whose collective holdings total 84.79 per cent of shares, had in May lodged an unconditional offer to take the lifestyle products retailer and distributor private. The counter ended Wednesday 0.6 per cent or S$0.001 higher at S$0.164.

SG Local News

Singapore Key Exports Jump 13% in June After Brief Dip

The Republic’s key exports jumped 13 per cent year on year in June after contracting briefly in the previous month, data from Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) showed on Thursday (Jul 17).

The May contraction for non-oil domestic exports (NODX) was revised to 3.9 per cent, from an earlier figure of 3.5 per cent.

Both electronics and non-electronics exports grew in June.

Singapore Tourism Receipts Edge Down 0.1% in Q1

The city-state’s tourism receipts (TR) marginally fell 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 to S$8.07 billion, from S$8.08 billion in the year-ago period.

This came as international visitor arrivals rose 0.1 per cent year on year (yoy) to 4.31 million, just a touch above 4.3 million in Q1 2024, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) figures showed on Wednesday (Jul 16).

On a quarterly basis, visitor spending grew 9.4 per cent, from S$7.4 billion in the final quarter of 2024.