Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened lower on Monday. STI fell 0.3%; MoneyMax up 5%; Ley Choon and Wilmar up 1%; UOB and Nio down 2%; ThaiBev down 1%.

Stocks in Focus

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) : The mall operator’s committed occupancy rate rose 99.9 per cent after its first quarter ended December 2025, up from 98.1 per cent in the prior quarter. This followed the successful backfilling of cinema spaces at two of its malls, Century Square and Causeway Point, after their previous cinema operator tenant Cathay Cineplexes entered liquidation. Units of FCT closed Friday 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$2.26, before the news.

Ho Bee Land : Ho Bee Land acquired a development site in Queensland, Australia for A$318.5 million (S$279.7 million) as the group moved to expand its long-term land bank in the country, it announced on Monday. The 181.36-hectare site is located in Elimbah and is expected to accommodate about 1,400 residential lots and about 64 mixed business and industrial lots upon completion. Shares of Ho Bee Land ended S$0.05 or 2.2 per cent higher at S$2.35 on Friday, before the announcement.

Starhill Global Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) : The manager on Thursday announced that it won arbitration proceedings initiated by department store chain Myer over a lease dispute at the Myer Centre Adelaide. In March 2023, Myer, an anchor tenant at the mall, initiated arbitration against the trust’s sub-trust in Australia, alleging that the landlord breached lease by maintaining the mall in a condition where it was “substantially empty of suitably presented retail stores”. Units of Starhill Global Reit ended S$0.005 or 0.8 per cent higher at S$0.595 on Friday, after the news.

The Straits Trading Company: The group is divesting a freehold logistics facility in Incheon, South Korea, for 432 billion won (S$377.6 million) as part of its strategy to recycle capital from matured assets, it announced on Friday. Following the settlement of outstanding loans and transaction-related expenses, the group expects to receive net proceeds of about 95.4 billion won. Shares of Straits Trading ended flat at S$1.70 on Friday, before the announcement.

MoneyMax Financial : The Catalist-listed pawnbroker on Friday attained in-principle approval from the Singapore Exchange for the transfer of its listing to the bourse’s mainboard. The move to the mainboard will boost long-term value for its shareholders, as well as provide it with a platform that reflects its scale and well-established market position. The group said on Monday that the shift is contingent on several conditions being met. The counter ended Friday 4.9 per cent or S$0.03 higher at S$0.645.

Trading halt: Skylink requested a trading halt on Monday pending the release of an announcement; its shares closed flat on Friday at S$0.29 before the news. Huationg Global on Monday called for a trading halt pending the release of an announcement; its shares ended Friday 3.1 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$0.66 before the news.

SG Local News

Grab-GoTo deal hits snag caused by state-backed holder’s stake

GRAB Holdings’ planned multibillion-dollar acquisition of GoTo Group has hit a stumbling block.

Negotiations over the deal have snagged over Indonesian wireless carrier Telkomsel’s roughly 2 per cent stake in GoTo, sources said.

The carrier – majority-owned by state-controlled Telkom Indonesia – has indicated it is unwilling to sell at anywhere near current valuations because it originally invested at a much higher price, they shared.

Singapore to invest more than S$1 billion in national AI research plan over 5 years

Singapore is investing more than S$1 billion (US$786 million) in its National AI Research and Development Plan (NAIRD) to strengthen public artificial intelligence research capabilities over five years from 2025 to 2030, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) said on Saturday (Jan 24).

The plan, announced by Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo at the Singapore AI Research Week 2026 gala dinner, supports Singapore’s broader AI ambitions under its updated National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0.