elean

Chinese firms dropped from Dow Jones indexes after US order

elean 11 12 月

2 minutes

SHANGHAI • S&P Dow Jones Indices (DJI) said yesterday it would remove Chinese companies, including Hikvision, from its products, becoming the latest index provider to do so following a Trump administration order restricting purchases of their shares. S&P DJI said it would remove A-shares, H-shares and American depositary receipts of 10 companies, including Hikvision and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), from all equity indexes prior to the market opening on Dec 21. The company said it will also remove 11 securities issued by Chinese companies from its fixed income indexes before Jan 1. Hikvision and SMIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "The order... may impact the ability of market participants to replicate S&P DJI equity and fixed income indexes containing securities affected by the order," S&P DJI said in a statement. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management chief fund manager Kiyoshi Ishigane said that funds following the S&P indexes "will have to sell. This goes beyond the routine annual changes to names on the index". "Once the passive funds start selling, the active funds will be inclined to do the same." S&P DJI's move comes after in...

Facebook faces US antitrust suits over WhatsApp, Instagram

elean 11 12 月

3 minutes

WASHINGTON • United States federal and state antitrust enforcers filed suit against Facebook on Wednesday, claiming the social media giant abused its dominant position and seeking to unwind its acquisitions of messaging services Instagram and WhatsApp. Separate suits filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a coalition of state officials called for the divestment of Instagram and WhatsApp, services which are part of the Facebook "family" of applications. "Facebook's actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition," said Mr Ian Conner, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. "Our aim is to roll back Facebook's anti-competitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive." A separate legal action was filed by antitrust enforcers from 48 US states and territories. "For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users," said New York state Attorney-General Letitia James, who leads the coalition. The suits allege that Facebook sought to squelch competition by acquiring the messaging applicat...

ADB forecasts shallower slump for Asia this year

elean 11 12 月

2 minutes

MANILA • Developing Asia's economy will contract this year by less than previously estimated as it begins recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The region's gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink 0.4 per cent this year, an improvement from the 0.7 per cent drop forecast in September, ADB said in a supplement to its Asian Development Outlook, released yesterday. It kept the region's growth projection at 6.8 per cent for next year. Prospects are diverging within the region, with East Asia set to grow this year while other sub-regions are contracting, the Manila-based bank said. China's economic forecast for this year was raised to 2.1 per cent growth from 1.8 per cent estimated in September, while India's projection was lifted to an 8 per cent contraction from minus 9 per cent previously expected. Next year, China's GDP is forecast to grow by 7.7 per cent and India's by 8 per cent. South-east Asia's economic forecast was lowered to a 4.4 per cent contraction this year amid reduced projections for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The sub-region remains under pressure as virus outbreaks and containment measures continue, ADB ...

FTA with UK further cements S’pore’s status as top trading hub

elean 11 12 月

1 minute

Even as trade remains muddied by rising protectionism and a recession-inducing pandemic, Singapore continues to consolidate its position as a major node in the global supply chains that lead in and out of Asia. In less than a month, Singapore joined the world's biggest multilateral regional trade partnership and then signed its maiden free trade agreement (FTA) with the world's sixth-largest economy. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month Latest headlines and exclusive stories In-depth analyses and award-winning multimedia content Get access to all with our no-contract promotional package at only $0.99/month for the first 3 months* Subscribe now *Terms and conditions apply.

US economy to slow in first quarter of 2021 but reach pre-Covid levels in a year: Poll

elean 10 12 月

4 minutes

BENGALURU (REUTERS) - US economic growth will lose momentum this quarter and next but expand faster than previously thought after that, according to a Reuters poll of economists, a firm majority of whom now expect the economy to reach pre-Covid-19 levels within a year. While the near-term economic outlook has dimmed again as the US remains the country worst-hit by the pandemic and on uncertainty about a fresh fiscal package, Wall Street stocks have reached record highs on positive vaccine news. The growth outlook for the current and next quarters was lowered in the Nov 30-Dec 8 poll. A few respondents predicted a double-dip, expecting the economy to contract again next quarter. "We expect the rising threat of Covid-19 to dampen growth through the first months of 2021, followed by further fiscal support from the prospective new administration in reaction to the rise in hospitalizations," noted Ellen Zentner, chief US economist at Morgan Stanley. "Downside risks are dominated by Covid-19, and particularly if broader-than-expected shutdowns over the winter and a delayed vaccine come in the absence of further fiscal stimulus. In this scenario, a more drawn-out recovery would lead to lo...

Airbnb reaches $62.8 billion value in above-range IPO

elean 10 12 月

2 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Airbnb, within hours of DoorDash nearly doubling in its trading debut, priced its initial public offering (IPO) above a marketed range to raise about US$3.5 billion (S$4.68 billion), according to people familiar with the matter. The home-rental company's IPO - anticipated for years by eager investors - tops DoorDash's US$3.37 billion offering as a flurry of consumer-facing web-based companies going public this month continues. Airbnb's listing adds to what was already a record year for IPOs, with more than US$163 billion raised on US exchanges, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Airbnb and its investors are selling about 52 million shares on Wednesday for US$68 each after marketing them for US$56 to US$60 each, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn't public yet. At that price, Airbnb has a fully diluted value of about US$47 billion (S$62.8 billion), which includes employee stock options and restricted stock units. A representative for Airbnb declined to comment. Other companies lined up for IPOs this month include video-game company Roblox Corp, installment loans provider Affirm Holdings and ContextLogic, the paren...

Credit Suisse shuts $2.67 billion insurance units after withdrawals

elean 10 12 月

2 minutes

ZURICH (BLOOMBERG) - Credit Suisse Group is winding down two reinsurance vehicles with assets of about US$2 billion (S$2.67 billion) after key investors moved their funds out. Humboldt Re and Kelvin Re, which use money from institutional clients to reinsure natural catastrophes and other risks, will stop underwriting new business next year, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec 9). Closing the vehicles is a blow to Credit Suisse's asset management unit, which is one of the biggest providers of investments linked to insurance. "Due to independent strategic decisions by the two ultimate institutional investors this year, these entities will discontinue to participate in reinsurance activities for 2021," Credit Suisse said in an emailed statement. "These two investment funds are expected to gradually reduce their asset size over the coming years." Insurance-linked securities offer investors above-average returns during years with few disasters but steep losses when earthquakes or typhoons multiply and damage property. Recently, the products have been tested by successive years of high disaster claims. The withdrawals add to problems at Credit Suisse's asset management unit, w...

Pound drops after leaders dinner fails to break Brexit impasse

elean 10 12 月

2 minutes

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - The pound fell after the UK and the European Union agreed to give Brexit trade negotiations until Sunday (Dec 13), with large gaps remaining between the two sides. The new deadline comes after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held talks over dinner without a breakthrough. Sterling fell as much as 0.6 per cent to US$1.3320 in early Asia trading after ending the New York session up 0.3 per cent as the dinner continued. It pared some losses to trade at US$1.3353 as at 7:19am in Singapore. "We're not pricing no deal yet, but the odds are increasingly moving in that direction," said Jeremy Stretch, head of G-10 currency research at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in London. Negotiators are "still talking, so that suggests that immediate downside may be contained ahead of early week lows at 1.3225." With only weeks remaining to reach an accord, many traders had pinned their hopes on the face-to-face meeting. Negotiations reached an impasse in recent days despite eight months of technical talks. If a trade agreement isn't struck by the end of year, the UK could face tariffs on exports to the bloc among m...

Merger of Cathay cinemas with Golden Village proposed as Covid-19 bites business

elean 10 12 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Singapore-listed mm2 Asia has entered into a heads of agreement for the possible merger of its Cathay cinema business with Golden Village cinemas in Singapore, which is owned by Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) Limited (OSGH). As part of the deal, the two companies aim to bring in new investors to inject more capital into the combined business, which would be the largest cinema operator here. mm2 Asia owns eight cinemas in Singapore under the Cathay brand, and 14 cinemas in Malaysia under the Cathay Cineplexes Malaysia, Mega Cinemas and Lotus Fivestar labels. It also owns a movie film distribution business and an online streaming business. OSGH has 14 Golden Village cinemas here. The Hong Kong-listed company, previously known as Golden Harvest, operates a total of 35 cinemas with 285 screens in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. A merger of the two cinema businesses would not only provide economies of scale, but also give more financial and operating stability to mm2 Asia's cinema business given the challenges faced by operators since the Covid-19 outbreak, the Singapore company said in a filing with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Wednesday evening (Dec...

AirTrunk opens its first Singapore data centre

elean 9 12 月

2 minutes

SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - AirTrunk on Wednesday (Dec 9) opened its first Singapore data centre - located on 1.5 hectares of land in Loyang due to its close proximity to the Changi North Cable landing station, allowing for strong international connectivity, the company announced in a statement. Named AirTrunk SGP1, the scalable data centre is "a key part of the company's growing Asia-Pacific platform", and will boast an overall capacity of more than 60 megawatts (MW) upon completion. Currently in its first phase, the data centre has opened with a capacity of 30 MW. Construction for phase two is already underway "to cater for strong customer demand". Focusing on sustainability and minimising carbon footprint, SGP1 is "designed with a range of innovations" to deliver a power usage effectiveness of 1.25, using 40 per cent less water than the industry average, said AirTrunk. The Asia-Pacific hyperscale data centre specialist also noted that the facility - catered for hyperscale customers to aid their rapid growth in Singapore and throughout South-east Asia - is the most land-use efficient in the market, offering the highest IT load per square metre. Founder and chief executive of...

US food delivery giant DoorDash raises $4.5 billion in above-range IPO

elean 9 12 月

2 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - DoorDash raised US$3.37 billion (S$4.5 billion) in an initial public offering (IPO) above its marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter. The San Francisco-based company sold 33 million shares on Tuesday (Dec 8) for US$102 each after marketing them for US$90 to US$95 each, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn't public yet. At that price, DoorDash has a fully diluted value of about US$38 billion, which includes employee stock options and restricted stock units. DoorDash's IPO is one of the largest US tech listings this year. The company is part of a cadre of consumer-facing, web-based businesses that are expected to go public in December - including home-rental platform Airbnb, which is set to price its IPO on Wednesday. Others include video-game company Roblox Corp, installment loans provider Affirm Holdings and ContextLogic, the parent of online discount retailer Wish. Food delivery start-up DoorDash has seized on the pandemic-fueled boom in demand for meals brought to your door, as well as investor exuberance over new stock listings as it moves ahead with its IPO. Revenue in the first nine months of ...

GIC-backed Rede D’or valued at $29.4 billion in Brazil IPO

elean 9 12 月

2 minutes

SAO PAULO (REUTERS) - Rede D'or, Brazil's biggest hospital chain, was valued at 112.5 billion reais (S$29.4 billion) in an initial public offering priced on Tuesday (Dec 8), sources told Reuters and the company confirmed in a securities filing, placing it among Brazil's 10 biggest companies by market capitalisation. Both the company and its shareholders, which include Carlyle Group and Singapore state investor GIC and its founder's family, raised 11.4 billion reais in the offering, in the biggest IPO by a Brazilian company since 2013. The hospital chain plans to use the proceeds - roughly 8.4 billion reais - to build hospitals and acquire businesses, such as health insurance brokers and hospitals. Rede D'or, with 51 hospitals in Brazil, was founded in 1977 by Jorge Moll Filho as a laboratory. The company is still controlled by the Moll family. Rede D'or's successful IPO comes despite a hit to its business by the pandemic, which has reduced elective medical care. It reported revenue of 9.8 billion reais in the first nine months of 2020, in line with the same period a year earlier, but net income plunged more than 80% to 156.5 million reais. Both GIC and Carlyle sold a small portion ...

Global investors keep pouring money into Asia’s red hot markets

elean 9 12 月

3 minutes

SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG) - Be it stocks, bonds or almost any other asset class, foreign cash is pouring into Asia on bets it will be fastest-growing region as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose to a record last week and a Bloomberg Barclays bond index is close to its highest in four years. The region's currencies are, on aggregate, the strongest since 2018 and commodities are also climbing. Little wonder when a Citigroup gauge of economic surprises in the region is at a level last seen in 2007. The positive aftermath of the US election, encouraging progress on vaccines, abundant liquidity and an "improving growth pulse" in Asia have driven demand for the region's assets, according to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) head of Asia research Khoon Goh. "We expect a controlled virus situation, improved global growth and ample liquidity to spur further inflows into the region," Mr Goh wrote in a note on Tuesday (Dec 8). "We expected continued strong inflows over the course of 2021, which will be supportive of Asia's asset markets." Investors added the most money to emerging-market exchange-traded funds since January last week and the...

S&P 500, Nasdaq end at new records, extending rally

elean 9 12 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks finished in record territory again Tuesday (Dec 8) on enthusiasm over coronavirus vaccines and anticipation of stock offerings by Airbnb and DoorDash. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at all-time highs, with the S&P 500 up 0.3 per cent to 3,702.25 and the Nasdaq Composite Index up 0.5 per cent to 12,582.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4 per cent to close at 30,173.88. Sentiment has been boosted by major Covid-19 vaccine announcements that have lifted confidence about the potential for a strong economic recovery in 2021, and offset worries about the near-term pain as the US contends with soaring coronavirus case counts that have led to new restrictions. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday issued a positively-worded briefing document saying the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective, raising expectations the regulator is poised to grant emergency approval. Also Tuesday, AstraZeneca became the first Covid-19 vaccine maker to publish final-stage clinical trial data in a scientific journal, confirming the vaccine works in an average of 70 per cent of cases. Markets also have been cheered by the impe...

Uber abandons pursuit of self-driving cars, sells unit to Aurora

elean 8 12 月

4 minutes

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Uber Technologies sold its self-driving car division to Aurora Innovation and took a stake in the start-up, pulling back from its vision for a fleet of autonomous taxis to focus on turning a quarterly profit next year after the pandemic crushed revenue. The deal will value Aurora at US$10 billion (S$13.4 billion), according to people familiar with the talks. In exchange for investing US$400 million in Aurora, Uber will get a 26 per cent ownership stake in the company. That number increases to 40 per cent when counting the stakes held by the employees and investors of Uber's autonomous driving division. Uber chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi and one other yet-to-be-named person representing Uber will join Aurora's board. The price tag is a comedown for Uber, whose self-driving division, Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), raised money last year at a US$7.25 billion valuation. The agreement with Aurora values the unit at just US$4 billion, following Uber's investment. The deal, expected to close during the first quarter, also guarantees that when Aurora releases its self-driving vehicles, they'll launch on Uber's network. Shares of Uber fell were mostly ...

Nasdaq closes at record high as growth names get a lift

elean 8 12 月

4 minutes

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - The Nasdaq closed at a record high on Monday (Dec 7) after investors moved into mega-cap growth stocks even as a new round of Covid-19 restrictions underscored the continuing economic impact of the pandemic on the United States. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced to close at a record, as several of its largest constituents, including Apple and Facebook Inc, rose. Still, a decline in names such as Alphabet and Microsoft kept major averages in check. Large cap growth stocks, which had underperformed value stocks in recent weeks as investors looked to names likely to benefit from a reopened economy, edged up 0.36% while value lost 0.56%. Authorities in California, the most populous state in the country, on Monday compelled much of its residents to close shop and stay at home the day after it reported a record 30,000-plus new coronavirus cases. Recent economic data indicating the economy has slowed as previous fiscal stimulus has dried up has highlighted the need for a new congressional relief package, with Friday eyed as a possible deadline when a funding measure for the government expires. "It is just kind of a waiting game, we are waiting to see if there is going to...

5 things to know about SGFinDex

elean 8 12 月

4 minutes

Singaporeans can now view their funds and investments on a single online platform instead of having to visit each bank's or government agency's website, saving time and making their financial planning easier and more effective. This is made possible by the Singapore Financial Data Exchange, or SGFinDex, a free digital service unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat during his opening address at the Singapore FinTech Festival and Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology yesterday. "This is the world's first public digital infrastructure that allows a person to sign in using his national digital identity and provide consent to obtain his financial information from different financial institutions and government agencies," said Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies. "Such an approach to trusted data sharing - involving both innovation and conducive regulations - can potentially be applied in other areas and in other jurisdictions," he said. Here are five things to know about SGFinDex. 1. WHAT IS IT? SGFinDex is a digital infrastructure that rides on SingPass, Singapore's national digital identity system. It was developed by t...

Climate change to pose risks to financial systems: MAS

elean 8 12 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Covid-19 pandemic, which has reduced the earnings of many companies and the incomes of numerous households, dominates daily news. Yet there is another long-term event that continues to present significant risk to financial systems and their customers, and that is climate change, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in its annual Financial Stability Review that was released last Tuesday (Dec 1). To address this, regulators and financial institutions need to assess how climate change will impact them, the authority added, noting that there is growing recognition of the risk to such attached to sustainability-related issues. "Climate change has become the defining challenge facing both present and future generations. From shifting weather patterns to rising sea levels, the risks posed by climate change are both multi-faceted and pervasive in their manifestation," it said. "The financial system plays a key role in catalysing this global response. Financial markets are pivotal in the allocation of capital and resources throughout the wider economy." It added that the financial system will be vital in enabling economies to make a successful transition to a more ...

Company brief: Ying Li International Real Estate

elean 8 12 月

2 minutes

Ying Li International Real Estate Chinese property developer Ying Li International Real Estate said its group chief executive and executive director Hu Bing was detained by the authorities in Beijing on Dec 4 "due to his involvement in suspected bribery". Mr Hu will cease as group CEO, executive director and a nominating committee member with immediate effect, the mainboard-listed firm said in a Singapore Exchange filing yesterday morning. During the interim period, the group CEO's duties will be temporarily undertaken by Dr Yang Haishan, a non-executive and non-independent director. Wirecard The Singapore authorities added three further fraud charges against the director of a local accounting firm in a case linked to disgraced German payments company Wirecard. R. Shanmugaratnam, a director of Citadelle Corporate Services, was charged with three counts of falsifying letters from Citadelle erroneously representing that the Singapore accounting firm held certain amounts of cash in escrow accounts. BLOOMBERG Japfa Agri-food company Japfa will sell 80 per cent of its South-east Asia-branded dairy business to affiliates of investment firms TPG and Northstar Group for US$236 million (S$3...

Asia shares at all-time highs on US stimulus, vaccine hopes

elean 7 12 月

4 minutes

SYDNEY (REUTERS) - A gauge of Asian shares hit a record peak on Monday (Dec 7) on hopes of a much-needed US stimulus package before year-end just as coronavirus vaccines roll out, while oil prices hovered near their highest since March. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent to 643.1 points, on track for its fifth straight session of gains. It is up 16.3 per cent so far this year, the best since a 33 per cent jump in 2017. Japan's Nikkei added 0.1 per cent while Australian shares climbed 0.8 per cent. Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week. US authorities will also this week discuss the programme before the expected first round of vaccinations this month. Hopes the vaccines will help curb the pandemic which has so far killed more than 1.5 million people globally sent shares soaring in recent weeks. On Wall Street, stock indexes reached fresh all-time highs on Friday with the Dow rising 0.8 per cent, the S&P 500 gaining 0.9 per cent and the Nasdaq adding 0.7 per cent. "The vaccine will break the link between mobility and infection rate, allowing for the strongest global GDP gro...

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