Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Thursday. STI up 0.3%, Olam up 2.5%, YZJ Shipbldg up 1.2%, SingPost up 1%, UOB up 0.5%.

Stocks to Watch

Mapletree Log Tr : The real estate investment trust divested two warehouse properties in Japan for 4.25 billion Japanese yen (S$37.5 million). MLT’s trustee – HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) – entered into sale and purchase agreements with a third-party buyer for the proposed divestment of Toki Centre and Aichi Miyoshi Centre in Japan. Units of MLT closed unchanged at S$1.28 on Wednesday, before the announcement.

DBS Group Holdings : DBS and Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) signed a memorandum of understanding to help Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expand into six markets in Asia – Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Taiwan – through a single banking partner, DBS. JFC, a public corporation wholly owned by the Japanese government, will extend standby letters of credit to Japanese SMEs to enable their local subsidiaries to secure long-term local currency-denominated funding more smoothly. Shares of DBS closed 0.3 per cent or S$0.14 higher at S$41.85 on Wednesday, before the announcement.

First Sponsor : The property developer is increasing its stake in Dutch property developer NSI to about 22 per cent from 17.5 per cent with the proposed acquisition of 920,839 NSI shares for 18.9 million euros, or about S$26.6 million. On Thursday, First Sponsor said it intends to fund the deal with net proceeds from its September 2024 rights issue. Shares of First Sponsor closed on Wednesday S$0.01 or 1 per cent down at S$1.03. 

IREIT Global SGD : The company has inked a 20-year lease contract with UK hotel chain Premier Inn for about 12 per cent of net lettable space in its Berlin Campus asset. This marks the first lease commitment as part of IReit’s 42 million-euro (S$59.5 million) refurbishment project slated to commence in Q2 2025, said its manager on Thursday. Units of the IReit Global closed flat at S$0.28 on Wednesday.

SG Local News

Singapore Households’ Debt up, but Financial Assets Grew Faster: MAS

The debt of households in Singapore may have risen in the past year, but their financial assets such as cash and stocks grew at a faster pace, so they can withstand pressures, said the central bank.

This is because income growth has been healthy and has outpaced debt accumulation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in its annual financial stability review on Nov 27.

Household debt in the third quarter of 2024 was up by 3.6 per cent year on year, with mortgage loans the key contributor.

About 75 per cent of household debt comprised housing loans backed by property collateral.

Leaked BYD Letter Signals China Electric Vehicle Price War Is Set to Intensify

BYD has asked suppliers to accept price cuts in 2025, in a signal the Chinese electric vehicle maker is preparing for the brutal price war in the world’s biggest auto market to intensify.

A screenshot of an email purportedly from the Shenzhen-based auto giant was circulating on social media on Nov 27, demanding 10 per cent price cuts from an unnamed supplier from January.

“Annual bargaining with suppliers is a common practice in the automotive industry,” Mr Li Yunfei, BYD’s public relations and branding director, said in response to the email in a Weibo post on Nov 27.

“We put forward price reduction targets to suppliers. They’re not mandatory requirements. We can negotiate.”

The email indicates the EV maker is positioning itself for further discounts in the coming year. The price war in China’s auto market, which has raged for at least two years, has driven a wave of consolidation and pushed smaller players to the brink.

Temasek-Backed SeaTown and Lim Form Enterprise Tech Services Firm Skyform

Asia-focused alternative investment firm SeaTown Holdings International said on Wednesday it had partnered with Singaporean tech investor and entrepreneur Lim Yuan En to set up an enterprise technology services company called Skyform. SeaTown, a unit of Singapore state investor Temasek's asset management arm Seviora, said both parties would back Skyform with a capital commitment of up to S$100 million ($74 million), according to a joint statement. Singapore-headquartered Skyform will pursue growth by acquiring and scaling up enterprise technology services companies in Asia Pacific, the statement said. The setting up of Skyform aligns with SeaTown's strategy of "targeting industries with attractive financial profiles and resilient growth", the statement added. Skyform founder and CEO Lim most recently co-led Southeast Asia direct buyouts at Switzerland-based global private markets investor Partners Group, according to the statement.