Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Monday. STI rose 0.4%; NIO rose 9%; Raffles Education rose 4%; iFast rose 3%; Seatrium rose 1%; Singtel rose 0.7%; UOB rose 0.6%.

Stocks in Focus

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust (MPACT) : The manager of MPACT announced on Friday that the divestment of the TS Ikebukuro Building was completed that same day. It added that the divestment of ABAS ShinYokohama Building was ongoing. Following this divestment, MPACT’s portfolio now comprises 16 commercial properties, with a total lettable area of 10.5 million square feet valued at S$15.9 billion. The counter closed flat at S$1.36 on Friday. 

First Resources: The company on Monday announced that it will conduct a mandatory tender offer to acquire the remaining shares of Austindo Nusantara Jaya, after it agreed to buy a 91.2 per cent stake in the company in March for US$329.8 million. Excluding the shares in the capital of Austindo Nusantara Jaya that were acquired by its majority-owned subsidiary Ciliandra Perkasa, it will purchase around 6.2 per cent of the Indonesian Stock Exchanged-listed group’s issued and paid-up share capital. The counter finished Friday unchanged at S$1.76. 

Sabana Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit): The Reit is expected to appoint former ALog Trust chief Karen Lee to lead Sabana Reit’s internal manager according to a bourse filing on Friday. Goo Li Ling, formerly of Keppel Fund Management, is expected to be named as chief financial officer. The Reit’s trustee also said that two directors Havard Chi and Bhavik Umesh Doshi have been appointed to the board of the internal manager. The counter closed flat on Friday at S$0.41.

Lum Chang Holdings (LCH): The company announced on Monday that its indirect subsidiary Lum Chang Builders (LCB) entered into a preliminary joint venture agreement with L&K Engineering. The joint venture aims to carry out the civil, structural and architectural works for a project in North of Singapore. LCB will hold a 30 per cent stake while L&K will own the remaining 70 per cent of the newly-formed company to be called L&K-LCB Joint Venture. Shares of LCH closed flat on Friday at S$0.45.

Raffles Education: The education service group received a letter of demand from Oriental University City Development Co on Friday claiming that it is liable for about 33.7 million yuan (S$6.2 million) in enterprise income tax and late payment penalties. The demand is said to be linked to the transfer of an equity interest in the Bank of Langfang made by Oriental University in 2021 to a third party designated by Raffles Education. Raffles Education said it believes the same is “without merit” and intends to “vigourously dispute the claim”. The counter ended Friday up 2.1 per cent or S$0.001 at S$0.049.

Creative Technologies: The electronics company posted a US$4.4 million net loss for the six months ended June, lower than the year-ago loss of US$6.8 million, after costs fell with lay-offs. The loss includes US$2.1 million in employee severance payments following restructuring exercises. Creative laid off 14 per cent of its workforce earlier this year. Revenue for the half-year dipped 3 per cent to US$30.1 million. The counter ended Friday flat at S$0.775.

SG Local News

Singapore Residential Rents Stabilising After Correction as Leasing Activity Recovers in Q2

The private residential rental market is showing signs of stabilisation after a recent correction, with leasing activity picking up and overall rents edging higher, though gains are uneven across regions and unit types.

Rental volume, excluding executive condominiums, rose 2.8 per cent on quarter to 21,330 units in the second quarter. This was 3.2 per cent higher than the year-ago quarter and 1.2 per cent above the five-year Q2 average from 2020 to 2024, according to a report by Savills Singapore.

The rental index of private homes rose 0.8 per cent on quarter in Q2, extending from the 0.4 per cent quarterly increase in Q1, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed.

Vietnam Billionaire’s Taxi Firm Takes on Grab in South-East Asia

Vietnam’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong is looking to disrupt ride-hailing sectors across South-east Asia as his taxi company Green & Smart Mobility, or GSM, battles Grab Holdings to be the top ride operator in his home market.

The two-and-a-half-year-old GSM, also known as Xanh SM in Vietnam, is bringing its playbook to Laos, Indonesia and the Philippines, and is expected to enter India, where VinFast just opened an EV factory. VinFast said that it will open an Indonesian auto factory this fall.

Vuong sees GSM, in which he holds a 95 per cent stake, as a marketing tool to turn VinFast into a global EV brand. The ride service accounted for about 21 per cent of the automaker’s car sales in the first quarter.

Singapore-Headquartered Mirxes to Join Alibaba, Tencent on Hang Seng Composite Index

Home-grown biotech firm Mirxes will join the Hang Seng Composite Index on Sep 8, the startup announced on Saturday (Aug 23). 

The Hang Seng Composite Index is a benchmark which covers about 95 per cent of the total market capitalisation of companies listed on the Hong Kong mainboard. It includes top Chinese firms such as Alibaba and Tencent. 

The Hang Seng Index, on the other hand, includes only the largest and most liquid stocks listed in Hong Kong, and has only 85 constituents currently.