Singapore shares rallied this week amid regional gains and a flurry of earnings reports, with the STI slightly up 1.35% in the last five trading days.

Sri Trang Gloves rose 28% this week; Alibaba HK SDR 5to1 rose 14%; Tencent HK SDR 10to1, Pacific Century rose 9% weekly.

Market News

Sri Trang Gloves Back in the Black with 556.7 Million Baht in Q4 Net Profit

Sri Trang Gloves posted a net profit of 556.7 million baht (S$22.1 million) in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2024, a turnaround from its net loss of 59.9 million baht in the same period the year before.

This came as fourth quarter revenue rose 27.6 per cent to 6.8 billion baht, from 5.3 billion baht the year before. Sales volume over the same period rose 18 per cent year on year to 10.4 billion pieces.

In its financial statement on Monday (Feb 17), the company noted that the average selling prices of gloves in FY24 rose 6.1 per cent year on year to 642 baht per 1,000 pieces on the back of higher prices for natural rubber and nitrile gloves, as well as an improving oversupply situation.

Alibaba Stock Jumps Following Earnings Beat, Strong AI Cloud Growth

Alibaba stock continued its red-hot rally after reporting December quarter results Thursday. Alibaba's fiscal third quarter earnings and revenue topped estimates, while the company's AI push helped accelerate growth for its cloud business.

Alibaba said that it earned an adjusted 21.39 yuan per American depositary share on sales of 280.38 billion yuan, or $38.4 billion, for the December-ended quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet projected Alibaba would post earnings of 19.47 yuan per ADS on sales of 278.49 billion yuan.

Top Glove Issues RM800 Million 5-year Senior Sukuk

TG Treasury Berhad, a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Glove announced the successful issuance of a 5 year Senior Sukuk Wakalah with a nominal value of RM800 million.

The world’s largest glove maker said thel exercise is in preparation for the redemption of an outstanding Perpetual Sukuk amounting to RM1.18 billion on its first call date on 27 February 2025. Proceeds raised from the exercise as well as RM380 million of the Group’s internal cash, will be utilised to redeem the outstanding Perpetual Sukuk.

The issuance of the Senior Sukuk Wakalah will reduce overall financing costs for the Group. Post issuance of the Senior Sukuk Wakalah and redemption of the Perpetual Sukuk, the Group’s net gearing stands at a healthy 0.12 times.

Emperador Inc. Implements Stock Transaction Tax Compliance for SGX Trading

Emperador Inc. announced that the sale of its shares traded on the Singapore Exchange is subject to a stock transaction tax (STT) of 0.6%, which will be collected and remitted to the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue by Singapore brokers. BDO Securities Corporation has been appointed as the receiving and remitting agent for this tax, and several Singapore brokers have been onboarded to facilitate this process. This development ensures compliance with Philippine tax regulations and maintains the seamless trading of Emperador’s shares on the SGX-ST, although brokers must have alternative payment methods in place in case the arrangement with BDO changes.

The Week Ahead

ocbc bank, SEMBCORP INDUSTRIES LTD, and ST Engineering are set to announce their earnings next week.

Raffles Medical: Monday, Feb. 24, before the Singapore market opens

Great Eastern: Tuesday, Feb. 25, before the Singapore market opens

ocbc bank: Wednesday, Feb. 26, before the Singapore market opens

CityDev: Wednesday, Feb. 26, before the Singapore market opens

CapitaLandInvest: Thursday, Feb. 27, before the Singapore market opens

SEMBCORP INDUSTRIES LTD: Thursday, Feb. 27, before the Singapore market opens

ST Engineering: Thursday, Feb. 27, before the Singapore market opens

ComfortDelGro: Thursday, Feb. 27, after the Singapore market opens