Business Headlines & Market News

Business Headlines and Stock Market News by Singapore Financial News Publishers

Latest Business Headlines and Stock Market News Published by Singapore Publisher Channel News Asia, Deal Streat Asia, Singapore Business Review, The Business Times, The Edge Market, Today Online @ SGinvestors.io

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7 hours ago

Britain confident of making progress in Brexit talks by Oct

[LONDON] Britain is confident it will make"sufficient progress" in negotiations with the European Union by October to move on to the next phase of the talks and discuss future ties with the bloc, the government said on Thursday.

7 hours ago

South Africa's Standard Bank lifts first-half profit by 11%

[JOHANNESBURG] Standard Bank, Africa's No 2 lender by market value, reported an 11 per cent rise in half-year profit on Thursday, as a rebound in commodity prices boosted demand for loans from clients in the oil and mining industry.

7 hours ago

Ericsson could shed 25,000 jobs in cost-cutting drive - report

[STOCKHOLM] Mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson may lay off around 25,000 employees outside Sweden as part of its savings programme, Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported on Thursday, citing unidentified sources at the company.

7 hours ago

Hostage-taking at Dutch radio station ends peacefully

[AMSTERDAM] A man held a woman hostage at a radio station in the Netherlands for a little more than an hour on Thursday before he released her and was arrested, Dutch police said.

7 hours ago

Broker's take: Morgan Stanley warns of 2 potential fragilities for Singapore's stock market

Angela Tan - THE MSCI Singapore, a popular stock evaluation measure, is up 14.5 per cent year-to-date, but Morgan Stanley warned that the local bourse could have priced in most of the good news expectations around the better earnings outlook.

7 hours ago

China Unicom shares still halted, as details of US$12b fundraising disputed

[HONG KONG] China Unicom's two main units said on Thursday their shares would remain suspended until further notice, one day after the group announced it was raising US$11.7 billion from investors including Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.

7 hours ago

Europe: Stock markets dip at open

[LONDON] Europe's main stock markets eased at the start of trading on Thursday, with London's benchmark FTSE 100 index down 0.3 per cent to 7,414.47 points awaiting key UK retail sales data.

7 hours ago

Fed's Fischer says move to unwind bank regulation 'dangerous': FT

Today - LONDON - Efforts by the United States government to loosen regulations on banks are "dangerous and extremely short-sighted", one of the U.S. central bank's top policymakers said in an interview with the Financial Times published late on Wednesday. ...

7 hours ago

Rich world's biggest tax burden targeted in Nordic welfare haven

[COPENHAGEN] Successive polls in Denmark have shown that voters in the country don't really like tax cuts. And lowering taxes for the rich is a political non-starter.

8 hours ago

Nets CEO sees "considerable interest" from potential buyers

[COPENHAGEN] Nets A/S, Scandinavia's largest payments processor, is seeing "considerable interest" from potential buyers amid a wave of M&A activity in the payment services industry, the company's chief executive said on Thursday.

8 hours ago

Demand for new homes keeps Austria's Wienerberger on track for 2017

[VIENNA] Austria's Wienerberger confirmed its full-year earnings forecast on Thursday after solid demand for new family houses in several European countries helped the construction group increase second-quarter core profit by 4 per cent.

8 hours ago

The Edge Singapore’s 10-stock portfolio records a decent return but lags market

Jeffrey Tan - (Aug 14): When The Edge Singapore put together a list of 10 stock picks in January, global equity markets were in euphoria after Donald Trump shocked the world by winning the US presidential election. Expectations were high that Trump would initiate major infrastructure spending, tax cuts and deregu ...

8 hours ago

GuocoLand gets a 'buy' as it rides local property upcycle

Samantha Chiew - SINGAPORE (Aug 17): Maybank Kim Eng is initiating a “buy” recommendation on GuocoLand with a target price of $2.75 as the group taps on Singapore’s upcycle. In a Wednesday report, analyst Derrick Heng says, “We believe its small free float, lower trading liquidity and limited analyst coverag ...

8 hours ago

Singapore’s solid equity market performance is facing 2 risks, says Morgan Stanley

Michelle Zhu - SINGAPORE (Aug 17): Two positive pillars of Singapore’s seemingly-strong equities market have weakened, according to equity strategists of financial services firm Morgan Stanley. This comes even as MSCI Singapore’s next 12 months (NTM) P/E nears a four-year high at 14 times, and is up 14.5% in t ...

8 hours ago

Gold edges up on softer dollar, palladium at 16-year peak

[BENGALURU] Gold rose on Thursday as the dollar remained subdued after minutes from the US Federal Reserve's July meeting hinted at a delay in further rate hikes, while palladium hit a fresh 16-year high.

8 hours ago

Qatar's growth prospects dim as Saudi-led boycott takes toll

[NEW YORK] Qatar's economy will expand this year at the slowest pace since 1995, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg this month, as the impact of a Saudi Arabia-led boycott is felt on trade and investor confidence.

8 hours ago

Australian researchers in peanut allergy breakthrough

[SYDNEY] Australian researchers have reported a major breakthrough in the relief of deadly peanut allergy with the discovery of a long-lasting treatment they say offers hope that a cure will soon be possible.

8 hours ago

Citi Says Emerging Markets Increasingly Reliant on ETF Flows

[MOSCOW] Add Citigroup to the list of analysts and investors concerned by the bumper inflows into emerging-market ETFs this year.

8 hours ago

Fed's inflation conundrum firms demand for government bonds

[LONDON] Most eurozone government bond yields fell on Thursday, tracking an earlier move in US Treasuries after minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed some policymakers called for halting interest rate hikes until inflation improves.

8 hours ago

Seoul: Won stronger as Fed views dent dollar, stocks rise

[SEOUL] The South Korean won ended at its highest level in more than a week as the dollar sagged after release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes that some analysts read as signalling it will delay the next rate hike.

8 hours ago

Former OCBC Securities representative issued prohibition orders

David Hughes - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued two prohibition orders against former OCBC Securities representative Prem Hirubalan, the authority announced in a press release on Thursday (Aug 17).

9 hours ago

China targets Alibaba's Taobao, other e-commerce sites, in VPN crackdown

[BEIJING] Chinese authorities have issued a warning to the country's top e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba Holding Group's Taobao.com, over the sale of illegal virtual private networks that allow users to skirt state censorship controls.

9 hours ago

Tokyo: Stocks close lower as autos, banks fall

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks closed lower Thursday as major automakers fell and banks were in retreat after US Federal Reserve policymakers hinted at a slower pace for future interest rate hikes.

9 hours ago

MAS issues prohibition orders against former representative of OCBC Securities

Angela Tan - THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued two prohibition orders against Prem Hirubalan, a former representative of OCBC Securities, banning him from performing any financial advisory servcies, among others, for 7 years.

9 hours ago

Australia's Hanson wears burqa to parliament in bid to ban them

[CANBERRA] Australian far-right senator Pauline Hanson wore a burqa to parliament on Thursday as part of her campaign to ban the all-enveloping garment worn by some Muslim women, drawing a quick rebuke from the government and Muslims.

9 hours ago

Brazil's Lula launches unlikely bid to retake presidency

[BRASÍLIA] Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has never taken the easy path but Thursday the onetime shoeshine boy turned political giant embarks on his most audacious challenge yet: to recapture the presidency - and avoid prison.

10 hours ago

Saudi Arabia crude oil exports fall slightly in June

[KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia] Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in June fell slightly to 6.889 million barrels per day (bpd), 35,000 bpd lower than the May level, official data showed.

10 hours ago

Apple said to plan $1.36 billion investment in TV shows and films

Bloomberg - (Aug 17): Apple Inc. plans to spend about US$1 billion ($1.36 billion) on original programming in the next 12 months, intensifying efforts to compete with Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc in video streaming, according to people familiar with the plan. A new Los Angeles-based team, led by former Sony C ...

10 hours ago

Malaysia's Najib burnishes RM15b in housing packages as polls loom

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday pledged to stay true to a decades-old positive discrimination policy for the country's majority ethnic group, ahead of national polls that could be called in the coming months.

10 hours ago

Malaysia's Najib burnishes over US$3b in housing packages as polls loom

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday pledged to stay true to a decades-old positive discrimination policy for the country's majority ethnic group, ahead of national polls that could be called in the coming months.

10 hours ago

Tat Hong kept at ‘hold’ by OCBC as outlook remains mixed

Samantha Chiew - SINGAPORE (17 Aug): OCBC is maintaining its “hold” rating on Tat Hong Holdings with a fair value of 37 cents. This followed the announcement of the group’s 1Q18 results which revealed softness in its business with some bright spots. Despite the group’s widening loss of $5.1 million mainly du ...

10 hours ago

Malaysia's PM Najib offers aid to palm oil farmers ahead of election

Reuters - (Aug 17): Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak gave cash handouts and offered debt waivers on Sunday to palm oil farmers, a key voter base for the scandal-hit leader who is preparing to seek re-election. Addressing tens of thousands of farmers and small landowners in the administrative capital Putra ...

10 hours ago

Australia: Shares edge up despite Telstra's tumble; New Zealand hits record high

[BENGALURU] Australian stocks inched up on Thursday, although a plunge by Telstra after it slashed dividends offset most of the gains by materials shares.

10 hours ago

Chinese general says military measures must not become an option on Korean peninsula

[BEIJING] Top Chinese general Fan Changlong said on Thursday that military measures must not become an option on the Korean peninsula.

10 hours ago

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports rise 8.5% in July; UOB upgrades 2017 NODX forecast

PC Lee - SINGAPORE (Aug 17): Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose 8.5% year-on-year in July, said International Enterprise Singapore, the government agency that promotes international trade. The growth was lower than a median forecast of 9.1% made by analysts previously and the revised growth o ...

10 hours ago

Singapore enjoys stable outlook, 2.5% real GDP growth forecast for 2017: Moody’s

Michelle Zhu - SINGAPORE (Aug 17): Moody’s Investors Service projects real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for Singapore for the full year at 2.5% – the midpoint of its government’s forecast of 2-3% –  on the belief that external demand will continue to support the expansion of its company.  In a Thu ...