Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened lower on Friday. STI down 0.2%, Civmec down 12%, SGX down 4.6%, ThaiBev down 1%.

Stocks to Watch

Thai Beverage (ThaiBev): The food and drink company’s revenue grew 2.4 per cent to 92.3 billion baht (S$3.7 billion) for the first quarter ended Dec 31, 2024, compared with the year-ago period. This was driven by improved sales in its beer, non-alcoholic beverages and food businesses that were offset by weaker performance of its spirits and other segments, the company said on Thursday in an update. Shares of ThaiBev finished down S$0.015 or 2.9 per cent at S$0.50 on Thursday.

Civmec : The construction and engineering services company’s net profit for its first-half ended Dec 31, 2024, fell 16.9 per cent A$26.5 million (S$22.5 million) from A$31.9 million in the year-ago period. This was due to a lower gross margin and higher administrative expenses incurred during the period, said the company on Thursday. Its earnings per share fell to A$0.0521 from A$0.0629. The company declared an interim dividend of A$0.025 per share for the six-month period. Shares of Civmec fell 2.8 per cent or S$0.03 to close at S$1.05 on Thursday.

Market News

Singapore’s GDP expands by 4.4% in 2024, fastest growth since 2021

Singapore’s GDP expanded by 4.4% in 2024, marking its fastest growth since 2021, government data showed Friday.

The economy had expanded by 1.8% in 2023.

For the fourth quarter alone, Singapore’s GDP grew 5% year on year, higher than the 4.7% forecast by the Reuters poll, but lower than the 5.7% expansion seen in the previous quarter.

Singapore’s key exports grow 0.2% in 2024; 2025 forecast unchanged

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) grew 0.2 per cent for the whole of 2024, reversing from the 13.1 per cent contraction recorded in the previous year, due to higher shipments of electronic products, data from Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) showed on Friday (Feb 14).

Electronic shipments grew 8.2 per cent in 2024, compared with a 19.7 per cent contraction in 2023. This was due to growth in integrated circuits, disk media products and PCs shipments, which contributed the most to the growth in electronic NODX, said Enterprise SG.