Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened lower on Wednesday. STI fell 0.25%; Seatrium rose 1.2%; YZJ Fin Hldg rose 0.9%; ST Engineering fell 1.6%; Singtel fell 0.6%.

Stocks to Watch

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Thursday (Feb 20).

Seatrium: It announced on Thursday that its offshore jack-up designer, Seatrium Offshore Technology, won an international tender from shipyard International Maritime Industries for the supply of equipment and licence of a drilling unit. The company said this marks the start of new-build construction for the shipyard since its opening. Shares of Seatrium closed Wednesday 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$2.55.

Singapore Post (SingPost): The national postal service provider on Thursday reported a group operating profit of S$21.1 million for the third quarter ended December, down 23.8 per cent from S$27.7 million in the previous corresponding period. Group revenue rose 12.1 per cent on the year to S$510.6 million, driven by higher contributions from its Australia business and property leasing. Shares of SingPost ended Wednesday 0.9 per cent or S$0.005 lower at S$0.56.

Sasseur Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit): The manager on Thursday posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of S$0.02929 for the second half ended December, up 0.1 per cent from S$0.02927 in the previous corresponding period. This was supported by resilient rental income under the Reit’s entrusted management agreement (EMA) model. EMA rental income for the second half rose 0.8 per cent on the year to 335.1 million yuan (S$61.8 million) from 332.5 million yuan. Units of Sasseur Reit closed 0.7 per cent or S$0.005 lower at S$0.69 on Wednesday.

CSE Global: The systems integrator has secured S$235.3 million worth of new orders for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31. The company said that the new orders it secured fell 21.6 per cent year on year, from that of S$300.3 million in the same period the year before. The greatest fall in order intake came from the electrification segment, which secured S$139.8 million in Q4 new orders, down 31.1 per cent from the corresponding year-ago period. CSE Global shares closed flat at S$0.465 on Wednesday, before the announcement.

United Hampshire US Reit: Its DPU for the half year ended Dec 31 fell 4.2 per cent to US$0.0205 from US$0.0214 over the same period a year earlier. Net property income fell 1.6 per cent year on year to US$24.4 million in H2 FY2024. United Hampshire US Reit units closed flat at US$0.48 on Wednesday, before the results were released.

SG Local News

Singaporean Huang Zhenhua’s Assets Frozen over US$830 Million Suit by Drug Giant Novo

NOVO Nordisk is seeking as much as US$830 million in damages in a Singapore court, saying that it was misled by a local biotech firm about the effectiveness of an experimental hypertension drug. 

KBP Biosciences and its founder led the Danish drugmaker to believe they had “developed a new and effective drug to treat hypertension and kidney disease”, according to a ruling the court made public this week.  

JPMorgan Upgrades Singapore Stocks to Overweight After Budget

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has upgraded Singapore stocks to overweight, citing government support to the market, high dividend yields, and fiscal room to cushion the impact of an external slowdown.

“We believe the household and business supports should keep economic activities strong, whilst investment into innovation and boosting the equities market would open up new opportunities for growth,” strategists including Khoi Vu wrote in a note dated Wednesday.

The upgrade comes a day after Singapore forecast a second year of budget surpluses despite Prime Minister Lawrence Wong unveiling a long list of handouts, rebates and infrastructure investments ahead of national elections due later this year.