Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Wednesday. STI rose 0.58%; Parkson Retail surged 12%; Olam Group up 1.7%; Singtel up 1.5% while UOB up 1.3% after robust earnings reports.

Stocks to Watch

The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Wednesday (Feb 19).

UOB: The lender on Wednesday posted a net profit of S$1.52 billion for the fourth quarter ended December, up 8.6 per cent from S$1.4 billion in the previous corresponding period. This included S$17 million in one-off expenses from UOB’s Citigroup integration costs after taxes, which was 81.9 per cent lower than the S$94 million recorded in the same period the previous year. A higher final dividend of S$0.92 per share for the half-year period, up from S$0.85 the year before was declared. Shares of UOB ended on Tuesday 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 higher at S$38.65, before the announcement.

Singtel: Singapore Telecommunications reported a 22% rise in its third-quarter underlying net profit on Wednesday, boosted by strong contributions from its Australian telecom unit Optus. Revenue from Australian telecom unit Optus, the company's top revenue generator, rose 3% to S$1.86 billion ($1.39 billion). The company also benefited from the strong performance of India's Bharti Airtel, which reported a nearly sixfold jump in consolidated third-quarter net profit, helped by a one-time gain and as tariff hikes continued to boost its per-user revenue.

Parkson Retail Asia: The department store operator posted a net profit of S$5.8 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, down 26.3 per cent from the year before. Revenue for the quarter went up by 1.4 per cent to S$58.5 million and earnings per share for its continuing operations stood at S$0.0086. Shares of Parkson Retail Asia ended flat on Tuesday at S$0.073, before the news.

Cordlife: The private cord-blood bank expects to post a loss for the 2024 fiscal year due to the financial fallout from lapses discovered in the storage of its cord-blood units two years ago. The company said that the expected loss is mainly due to the suspension of its operations in late 2023. Shares of Cordlife ended on Tuesday S$0.001 or 0.7 per cent higher at S$0.152, before the announcement.

SG Local News

Budget 2025 Delivers SG60 Goodies While Keeping Long-Term Needs in Sight

SG60 “goodies” and support for large families were two highlights of a generous Budget that tackled immediate cost concerns and laid out long-term growth plans – while still running a hefty S$6.8 billion surplus.

Targeted moves to bring multinationals here and help local companies go abroad featured in Finance Minister Lawrence Wong’s first Budget speech as prime minister, delivered on Tuesday (Feb 18).

Related News: Budget 2025 Highlights: From SG60 Goodies To Investments For Growth

Singapore Buys Only Small Amount of Nvidia Chips, Official Says

Singapore accounts for only a very modest portion of Nvidia Corp.’s revenue, according to a senior official, as Washington is looking into whether Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has been securing chips via the Southeast Asian country.

“The physical delivery of products sold by Nvidia to Singapore represent less than 1% of Nvidia’s overall revenue,” in the three-month period ending in October in 2024, Tan See Leng, the island nation’s second minister for trade and industry, told lawmakers on Tuesday. He said those are mostly deployed for major enterprises and the government.

Gold Market Ructions Drive Singapore Exports to the US

Gold shipments from Singapore to the US climbed to the highest level in almost three years in January, a further sign of the ructions in bullion trading after pricing disparities opened up in key markets.

Volumes of the precious metal shipped from the Southeast Asian city-state to the US rose to about 11 tons last month, up 27% from December, and the largest amount since March 2022, according to data from state agency Enterprise Singapore. Typically, most flows from Singapore go to destinations in Asia.