21 hours ago
Saying yes, for less: Why lab-grown diamonds have cornered 80% of the engagement ring market
Shikhar Gupta - New-age diamond ring retailers have business models that are leaner, faster and unburdened by mined inventory
Business Headlines & Market News
Business Headlines and Stock Market News by Singapore Financial News Publishers
21 hours ago
Asian currency markets in the Year of the Fire Horse; ready to gallop?
Guan Yi Low, Head of Asia Fixed Income at M&G Investments - Asian currency markets enter the Year of the Fire Horse at a delicate but potentially consequential juncture. The Year of the Green Wood Snake closed on firmer footing. After four consecutive years of depreciation against the US dollar, Asian currencies edged cautiously higher. The Bloomberg Asia Do ...
22 hours ago
iREIT Global 2HFY2025 DPU down nearly 60% y-o-y, aggregate leverage at 44.6%
Teo Zheng Long - iREIT Global (SGX: UD1U ) has reported a distribution per unit (DPU) of €0.3 cents for 2HFY2025, down 59.6% y-o-y. On a full year basis (FY2025), DPU declined at a lower rate of 42.6% y-o-y to €1.09 cents. Gross revenue for FY2025 decreased by 33.3% y-o-y to €50.4 million, while net property i ...
22 hours ago
Mizuho plans to replace 5,000 clerical jobs with AI in 10 years
Global banks are heavily investing in artificial intelligence to improve operations ranging from product development to risk management
22 hours ago
Poland plans social-media ban for children under 15, Bloomberg News reports
Feb 27 : Poland plans to introduce new legislation to ban social media for children under 15 years of age and will hold platforms responsible for age verification, Education Minister Barbara Nowacka told Bloomberg News in an interview published on Friday.The ruling Civic Coalition will present the d ...
22 hours ago
Polish ruling party plans social-media ban for children under 15
WARSAW, Feb 27 : The largest party in Poland's coalition government is preparing legislation that would bar children under 15 from using social media, opening the door to a potential clash with major U.S. tech firms.Education Minister Barbara Nowacka on Friday outlined plans to fine social medi ...
22 hours ago
Indonesian trade surplus widened in Jan to $2.76 billion, Reuters poll shows
JAKARTA, Feb 27 : Indonesia's trade surplus is expected to have widened in January from a month earlier as double-digit growth in exports offset higher imports, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.A dozen economists surveyed by Reuters between February 23 and February 27 forecast a median January t ...
22 hours ago
ST Engineering expects to repeat doubling of international defence contract wins this FY2026
The Edge Singapore - Singapore Technologies Engineering, having doubled the value of international defence contracts won in 2025 over the preceding year, is aiming to repeat this feat this current FY2026. According to Mervyn Tan, the company’s president for its defence and public security business, the company won aro ...
22 hours ago
Danske Bank cuts hundreds of jobs to add to Danish layoff wave
Most of the job cuts will fall in Denmark and Lithuania, the firm says
23 hours ago
Uni-Asia reverses into black for FY2025
Lin Daoyi - Alternative investment manager Uni-Asia Group has reported net profit after tax of US$0.8 million for FY2025 ended Dec 31, a reversal from the US$28.2 million loss from FY2024. In a bourse filing on Feb 26, the company which focuses on real estate and shipping, attributes the better performance to t ...
23 hours ago
New online tool launched for developers to estimate land betterment charges upfront for greater cost certainty
Ry-Anne Lim - Move is part of wider improvements in framework to provide developers with more transparency and clarity
23 hours ago
Online tool launched for developers to estimate land-betterment charges upfront for greater cost certainty
Ry-Anne Lim - The government is also exploring longer tenures for state properties, especially those that enable ‘innovative development’
23 hours ago
Analysis:AI boom will be no free pass for debt-laden major economies
LONDON, Feb 27 : An AI productivity boom, if it materialises, may help buy major economies more time to clean up their strained public finances, economists say, although it won't do the heavy lifting. The stakes couldn't be higher. Debt is above 100 per cent of output across most rich econ ...
23 hours ago
What AI windfall? Debt will still weigh on big economies
LONDON, Feb 27 : An AI productivity boom, if it materialises, may help buy major economies more time to clean up their strained public finances, economists say, although it won't do the heavy lifting. The stakes couldn't be higher. Debt is above 100 per cent of output across most rich econ ...
23 hours ago
Coupang swings to loss as data breach dents Q4; sees muted near-term growth
For the first quarter, the company expects consolidated constant-currency revenue growth of 5% to 10%
23 hours ago
Singapore’s SIT and Hitachi to co-develop hybrid AC/DC rack power testbed for data centres
Nurdianah Md Nur - Hitachi will be working with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) to co-develop a hybrid AC/DC rack-level power distribution testbed. The project will connect to SIT’s Multi-Energy Microgrid at its Punggol campus, a system that integrates solar photovoltaic (pV) generation and other distrib ...
23 hours ago
Redas, NUS tie up to offer trainee, internship programme for real estate talent pipeline
Ry-Anne Lim - It will provide students with exposure to real estate careers in both the public and private sectors
24 hours ago
Nintendo plans around 300 billion yen share sale by Kyoto bank and others: sources
Regulators and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have been encouraging Japanese companies to unwind their cross-shareholdings
24 hours ago
Nintendo announces 290 billion yen share sale by Kyoto bank and others
Nintendo’s shares pared gains and closed up nearly 3% following a Reuters report
24 hours ago
Digital Realty to open AI testing labs in Singapore and Japan this year
Nurdianah Md Nur - Digital Realty is expanding its Digital Realty Innovation Lab (DRIL) network to Singapore and Japan as enterprises in Asia Pacific accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) deployments. The new DRIL sites will provide live environments where customers and partners can test AI and hybrid cloud architec ...
24 hours ago
Analysts raise target prices for Food Empire with strong growth expected across key markets
Chloe Lim - This also comes after core Patmi for 2025 rose 38% year on year, beating expectations
24 hours ago
Hyundai Motor to invest 9 trillion won in AI, robotics centre
The facilities will be built in the Saemangeum area, which is about 270 kilometres southwest of Seoul
1 day ago
Sunway Healthcare seeks RM2.9 billion from Malaysia IPO
The company is looking to add as many as five more hospitals in the coming years, with three under construction
1 day ago
Death and taxes are certain for Singapore smokers
Douglas Toh - Two weeks ago, Singapore raised the tax on tobacco products by 20%. The aim, of course, is to curb smoking. But does the strategy work? Policymakers seem to think so. Levies on tobacco were implemented in 2018 and again in 2023. In 2020, tobacco companies were banned from displaying branding — rep ...
1 day ago
CDL aims to divest UK development platform within 2026: CEO Sherman Kwek
Jovi Ho and Felicia Tan - City Developments (CDL) is aiming to “monetise” all assets in its UK development platform by the end of the year, announced CEO Sherman Kwek at the group’s results briefing on Feb 27. After two assets were sold in 2024 and 2025, five properties remain with a carrying value of some $800 million ...
1 day ago
Let’s go beyond task forces and workgroups when tackling problems
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan - National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat is a busy man. Besides addressing the housing woes of Singaporeans by ramping up our housing supply, Chee is also the deputy chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The dual roles essentially make Chee the nation’s point man for the city-s ...
1 day ago
Panama officials search CK Hutchison’s subsidiary office: source
The decision has sparked a battle embroiling both Beijing and Washington
1 day ago
Trump messes with MEVs, ECLs
Goola Warden - Under US President Donald Trump’s so-called trade policy, the on-and-off implementation of tariffs messes up global trade and supply chains. Although Asean growth has exceeded expectations in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, companies and financial institutions remain prepared for uncerta ...
1 day ago
Tiong Woon’s turnaround story goes beyond ‘just rental, rental, rental’
Felicia Tan - Mainboard-listed heavy lift specialist Tiong Woon Corporation has long been overlooked by the market. For the better part of the last five years, its shares have been languishing between 40 and 60 cents. All that changed since mid-2025 when the stock surged to a high of $1.04 as at Feb 25, more than ...
1 day ago
Japan finance minister signals greater vigilance over the yen's weakness
TOKYO, Feb 27 : Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Friday signalled heightened vigilance over currency moves, telling parliament the government is monitoring the yen's recent slide with a strong sense of urgency."We are watching recent movements very closely, with a strong sense ...
1 day ago
NTT Data to boost India headcount by 5,000 this year, exec says
Feb 27 : Japanese technology firm NTT Data plans to raise its India headcount by 5,000 employees this year across software programming, consulting and IT support, a senior executive told Reuters. Large IT contracts of more than $100 million have doubled in the last 12 months, with deals stemmin
1 day ago
Exclusive-Nintendo plans around $1.9 billion share sale by Kyoto bank and others, sources say
TOKYO, Feb 27 : Nintendo plans an unwinding of strategic shareholdings that would see companies including MUFG Bank and the Bank of Kyoto selling shares of the "Super Mario" maker, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The sale is expected to total roughly 300 billion yen ...
1 day ago
Indonesia court jails ex-CEOs of Pertamina units in major graft case
The case is one of the biggest launched under the administration of President Prabowo Subianto
1 day ago
Back in business: ASTI Holdings’ clean comeback from suspension to resumption
Teo Zheng Long - Not all companies that delisted from the exchange did so because their controlling shareholders lost patience with the persistent, perceived undervaluation of their businesses. Some were asked by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to delist for reasons ranging from failure to comply with regulations to li ...