Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks flattened on Thursday. STI was unchanged; UOB up 0.4%; MM2 Asia down 10%; Nio down 2%; ST Engineering down 0.5%.

Stocks to Watch

Paragon Reit : Its manager announced that it will be holding an extraordinary general meeting on Apr 22 to vote on a proposed privatisation by way of a trust scheme of arrangement. If approved, unitholders will receive S$0.98 per unit from the offeror Times Properties. Units of Paragon Reit closed 0.5 per cent or S$0.005 higher at S$0.97 on Wednesday.

mm2 Asia : Embattled cinema chain Cathay Cineplexes will cease operations at its JEM outlet in Jurong East from Thursday. Its landlord, Lendlease Global Commercial Reit, has issued a notice to terminate its lease agreement with Cathay for the premises effective from Thursday. The landlord is seeking to recover S$4.3 million in rental arrears that Cathay owes, up to the termination date, said the entertainment group that operates the cinema chain, in a Thursday bourse filing. Shares of mm2 Asia closed flat on Wednesday at S$0.01.

ST Engineering : The defence and engineering group’s subsidiary – ST Engineering Mission Software & Services – and the Home Team Science and Technology Agency have incorporated joint venture company Codex Solutions in Singapore on Wednesday, with an initial paid-up capital of S$10 million. Codex Solutions will focus on developing and maintaining in-house software capabilities for the Home Team. Shares of ST Engineering closed 1.7 per cent or S$0.11 higher at S$6.67 on Wednesday.

UMS Integration : The semiconductor manufacturer on Wednesday said it has received approval for its secondary listing on the main market of Bursa Malaysia. It noted that such a listing would broaden its reach and widen its investor base, potentially improving the group’s share liquidity. Shares of UMS closed 0.9 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$1.11 on Wednesday.

Trading halt: Property company Capital World called for a trading halt on Thursday morning, pending the release of an announcement. The counter closed flat at S$0.001 on Wednesday.

SG Local News

Singapore’s factory output sees shock 1.3% fall in February, contrary to high growth expectations

The Republic’s manufacturing output fell 1.3 per cent year on year in February, breaking its seven-month expansion streak after the biomedical and electronics clusters fell into contraction.

This missed private-sector economists’ forecasts of a 7 per cent expansion, in a poll by Bloomberg. February’s data was also a sharp reversal from January’s revised growth of 8 per cent.

Latest Singapore six-month T-bill cut-off yield rises to 2.73%

The cut-off yield for Singapore’s latest six-month Treasury bill (T-bill) rose to 2.73 per cent, the auction results by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday (Mar 26) showed.

This was up from the 2.56 per cent offered in the last six-month auction that closed on Mar 13.